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HISTORY
OF
HAMILTON COUNTY
OHIO,
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches.
COMPILED BY
Henry A. Ford, A. M., and Mrs. Kate B. Ford.
L.A.WILLIAMS & CO.
PUBLISHERS,
1881,
"•M PRINTING HOUSE OF W. W. WILLIAWS. C
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Prefatory Note,
It should ever be borne in mind that the office of an historian is one
of immense responsibility; that it always tells for good or evil; and
that he will be held responsible for the consequences of a want of
fidehty. — [Hon. yacob.Burnet, Cincinnati.
An earnest and very laborious effort has been made
to compose this history in the spirit of Judge Burnet's
remark. No source of information available to the
writers has been left unsearched, nor any effort or ex-
pense spared to produce a work which should satisfy the
reasonable expectations of a city and county which have
waited nearly a century for the compilation and publica-
tion of their annals. The Hst of works consulted is too
large for convenient citation here. It includes those of
all the earlier writers — Burnet, Cist, the Drakes, Mans-
field, and others — with a multitude of later volumes, and
pamphlets, magazines, newspapers, and manuscripts in-
numerable. It has not been practicable in so many cases
to secure formal permission for the use of books con-
sulted or quoted; but it is trusted that due respect has
been paid to all copyrights, and that no author whose
writings have contributed to this volume will object to
such use as has been made of them. Acknowledgments
are also due to many persons, in all parts of the county
and at several points elsewhere in the State, for their
kind and helpful aid in the preparation of this book.
Particular mention should be made in this connection of
Miss E. H. Appleton, librarian of the Historical and
Philosophical society; Mr. John M. Newton, of the
Mercantile library; Chester W. Merrill, esq., of the Pub-
lic library ; Colonel Sidney D. Maxwell, superintendent
of the Chamber of Commerce; and Mr. H. A. Ratter-
man, secretary of the German-American Insurance com.
pany; all of Cincinnati — and to Louis W. Clason, mayor
of Madisonville.
It may seem, in some cases, that public institutions or
private interests of public importance have not received
the notice that was due to them, or are, possibly, wholly
unnoticed in these volumes. It may be concluded in
such cases, with scarcely any exception, that the omission
is the result of failure on the part of those possessing
desired information to co-operate with the historian.
The compilers regret most sincerely that their inability
to read some of the proofs has resulted in many errors
of typography, and a few of statement. It is hoped,
however, that all of any importance will be found cor-
rected in the errata at the close of the respective vol-
umes.
The special biographies and "notes of settlement"
have been prepared, in nearly all cases in both voluines,
by other hands than those of the compilers.
idusky.
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1.1
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1
Y^VICIxMI RO [JXVXS
^
CONTENTS
HISTORICAL,
GENERAL lllISTORY
(■hafti;k
\. — Description.
\ — Geology and Topograpiiy
\ — 'I'he Aboriginal American
N -The Ohio Indians
■ V-Titles to Ohio — The Miami| Purchase
Vi/ -The Miami Immigration
VII. iThe Miamese
JIP.VII1 (The Miamese and the Indians '.
lij ; Civil Jurisdiction — Erection of Hamilton County
- H Progress of Hamilton county
Xl'.- Vl'Iitary History of Hamilton County
XLI.^i'he Morgan Raid through Ohio
XIII. — The County Institutions
XIV. — ^The County .Associations
XV. — Railroads .....
XVJ.— Cani!s ...
XVn.— Roads , .
XVIII. — Early Legislation and Legislators
200
204
CHAPTER
XIX. — Courts and Court Houses .
XX. — Civil List of Hamilton County .
TOWNSHIPS.
SymmeS
Whitevvaler*
Siipijlementary Matter
255
263
319
333
346
361
388
396
401
414
430
BIOGRAPHICAL,
.Armstrong Family
L'loud, Jared ,
Cilley, Bradbury
Gary, Freeman Grant
Cochran, Hon. John M.
Edwards, Williain. sr.
Ebersole, .Abram
Frondorf, Frank
Friend, George H.
Hill, Colonel W. H.
following 254
Hughes, Ezekiel ,
following 2t)2
Isgrig, Daninl
262
Langdon Family
346
McGill, William R.
383
Riddle, John L.
following 254
Sater Family
following 254
Sater, Joseph
3"
Turpin Family
386
Wills, Thomas
394
Walker, George W
'AGE
412
3"
'358
r 254
38s
292
292
2S4
310
384
ILLUSTRATIONS,
Portr;
PAGE
following 254
following 254
following 254
following 254
following 254
lit of E. J. Turpin ....
William Edwards
William R. McGill
" Abram Ebersole
T. M. Armstrong ....
Portraits, with biography, of Mr. and Mrs. Bradbury
Cilley, ..... between 262 and 263
Portrait, with biography, of Jared Cloud . between 262 and 263
Portraits, with biography, of Thomas E. Sater and
wife . . . . 282
Residence of George Wabnitz . . between 284 and 285
Portraits, with biography, of George Wabnitz and
wife ...... facing 286
Residence of Joseph Sater . . between 288 and 289
Thomas E. Sater . . between 288 and 289
Portraits, with biography, of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Sater ..... between 292 and 293
Portrait, with biography, of James P. Williams . facing 297
View of Mt. St. Vincent Academy . . facing 300
Portrait, with biography, of Dr. E. D. Crookshank . facing 305
Portraits of S. S. Jackson and wife, with biography facing 306
Portrait, with biography, ofG. W. H. Musekamp, belweun 30S an 309
Portrait of Daniel Isgrig
Poi trait, with biography, of Thomas Wills
Portrait, with biography, of F. Frondorf
Portraits of Richard Calvin and wife, w
raphy ....
Portraits, with biography, of Stephen E
wife ....
Residence of M. S. Bonnell
Portrait of Joseph H. Hayes .
Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. M. S. Bonnell
" Mr. and Mrs. James Campbell
Portrait, with biography, of Charles Flinchpaugh
Portrait of Charles Simonson
Residence of Charles Simonson
Portrait of Henrj- Attemeyer
Residence of F. G. Gary
Portrait of F. G. Cary
Portrait, with biography, of S. M. Ferris
Portrait of J. D, Langdon
Portrait of John Riddle
" Catharine Riddle
Hon. John M. Cochran
PAGE
between 308 and 309
facing] 310
facing' 311
biog-
between 312 and 313
and
between 314 and 315
between 316 and 317
facing 318
between 318 and 319
between 318 and 319
facing 320
between 224 and 225
between 224 and 225
facing 337
between 344 and 345
facing 346
facii
far ^
't\r
between 36
between tS wide at its mouth,
..iin sevei al large branches navi-
~-p7 the principal of which intersects with
hich runs into Lake Erie, to which there
\. portage to Sandusky.
Portraits of Gary Johnson and wife . . between 372 and 373
Residence of C. B. Johnson . . between 372 and 373
Portrait of Captain George W. Walker . . facing 377
Portraits of Benjamin Urroston and wife between 378 and 379
Portraits, with biography, of Reeves McGilliard and
^vife ..... between 380 and 381
Portraits, with biography, of John R. Field and
wife . . . • • between 380 and 381
Portraits of Joseph and Mrs. Joseph Jaclison between 382 and 383
Residence and Portrait of John hi Riddle
Portrait of G. H. Friend
Colonel W. H. Hill
Portraits of Rev. W. B. Chidlav
Chidlaw
Portrait of Ezekiel Hughes
Portrait, with biography, of W. E'. Mundell
" " " Jacol Clark
Portrait of Herman Knuwener
III ( 1
between 3B4 and 385,,
facing ^86^
facing 394.
and Mrs. W. B.
between 408 and 409
facing 412
facing 41^
facing 421
facing 425
^
HISTORY
OF
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO,
CHAPTER I.
DESCRIPTION.
There is a land, of every land the pride,
Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside,
Where brighter suns dispense serener light,
And milder moons imparadise the nig^hl ;
A land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth,
Time-tutored age, and love-exalted youth :
The wandering mariner, whose eye explores
The wealthiest isles, the most enchanting shores,
Views not a realm so bountiful and fair,
Nor breathes the spirit of a purer air.
Man, through all ages of revolving time,
Unchanging man, in every varying clime,
Deems his own land of every land the pride.
Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside ;
His home the spot of earth supremely blest,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.
James Montgomery, "My Country."
Hamilton, the second county erected in the territory
now covered by the State of Ohio, but, ahnost ever since,
the first in the State in wealth, population, and general
importance, is the southwesternraost subdivision of the
Commonwealth. It is bounded on the south by the
river Ohio, next beyond which are the counties of Camp-
bell, Kenton, and Boone, in Kentucky; on the west by
Dearborn county, Indiana, and at the southwestern
corner by the Great Miami river; on the north by Butler
and Warren counties, Ohio, formed from its own territory
in 1808; on the east by Clermont county and the Little
Miami river, beyond which, from the northeastern corner
of the county, runs a narrow strip of Warren county.
Upon no side of its territory is the boundary a direct
line throughout. The tortuous windings of rivers supply
great curves on the eastern and southern boundaries, and
also break up the western line as it nears the southern ex-
tremity; and the northern line is considerably zigzagged
by the irregularity of the early surveys in the Symmes
(or Miami) Purchase.
The area of Hamilton, once so great as to include
about one-eighth of the present territory of Ohio, is now
among the smaller county areas of the State. It includes
but about three hundred and ninety square miles, or two
hundred and forty-nine thousand acres. Its surface was
probably part of a vast plain many thousands of years
ago, but has become exceedingly diversified and broken
by the long wash of streams and by the changes of the
geologic ages.
It is a remarkably well-watered and fertile country.
The underlying rocks of the Miami country are calcare-
ous, and the drift-gravels usually composed largely of
limestone. From both these sources fertilizing elements
are imparted to the soil.
The valley of the Ohio is about five hundred feet be-
low the general level of the county; while the valleys of
the Great and Little Miarais, of the Dry fork of White-
water, of Mill, Duck, and Deer, Taylor's and Blue Rock
creeks, and many small streams corrugate further the sur-
face of the couhtry.
The characteristics of some of these streams were no-
ticed by travellers at a very early day. Captain Thomas
Hutchins, of His Brittanic Majesty's Sixtieth regiment of
foot, afterwards geographer of the United States, during
his service with the British armies in this country in the
last century, made many explorations in the western wil-
derness between the years 1764 and 1775, the results of
which are embodied in a valuable Topographical De-
scription published in London in 1778. It contains,
probably, the first printed notices of the Miami river ex-
tant. He says:
Little Mineami river is too small to navigate with batteaux. It has
much fine land and several salt springs; its high banks and gentle cur-
rent prevent its much overflowing the surrounding lands in freshets.
Great Mineami, Affercmet, or Rocky river has a very strong chan-
nel; a swift stream, but no falls. It has several large branches, passa-
ble with boats a great way ; one extending westward towards the Wa-
bash river, and then towards a branch of the Mineami river (which runs
into Lake Erie), to which there is a portage, and a third has a portage
to the west branch of Sandusky, besides Mad creek, where the French
formerly established themselves. Rising ground here and there a little
stoney, which begins in the northern part of the Peninsula, between
Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, and extend across the Little Mine-
ami river below the Forks, and southwardly along the Rocky river to
Ohio.
A part of Captain Hutchins' description would hardly
be approved nowadays. However industrious he was in
observation, he would have necessarily to rely much upon
hearsay; and no little knowledge that he seemed to have
appears absolutely incorrect, or vague and indefinite,
when confronted with the facts.
Imlay, an English traveller, wrote in 1793, evidently
borrowing from Hutchins:
The Great Miami is about three hundred yards wide at its mouth,
is a rapid stream, without cataracts, with several large branches navi-
gable_for batteaux a long way up, the principal of which intersects with
a branch of the Miami river, which runs into Lake Erie, to which there
is a portage, and a third has a portage to Sandusky.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
This region forms one of the richest, as well as the most
beautiful, sections of the State, an extension, indeed of
the far-famed "blue grass region" of Kentucky.* The
system of agriculture in this valley is esteemed the best
in the State, except that of the Western Reserve. By
underdraining and other permanent soil-improvements
and ameliorations important changes have been effected.
It is the most famous tobacco region of the State, and in
it more than forty per cent, of all the tobacco raised in
Ohio is produced. The very richest bottom lands are
selected for this crop, and the average yield for five years
is ascertained to be eight hundred and sixty-six and one-
half pounds per acre. In the early day comparatively
little wheat was grown in the valley, but within the last
quarter of a century it has sown a greater breadth, and
harvested a larger quantity than any similar area in the
State. A comparison of the Miami valley with other
parts of Ohio, made a {ew years ago, showed that fifty
per cent, wider breadth of soil was sown to wheat in this
valley than in any other part of the commonwealth.
The corn crop was also very large, averaging thirty-eight
and one-fourth bushels per inhabitant, against thirty-
seven and one-half bushels per inhabitant for the general
average of the State. Says the report cited below:
The farms throughout the valley are, as a rule, in good order; the
surroundings in neatness' and good taste more nearly resemble the
Western Reserve than does any other valley in the State. Many of the
inhabitants are Pennsylv,inians and iVIarylanders, who have brought
with them their ideas of good shelter and care of domestic animals;
hence, throughout the valley are found well-constructed and good-
sized, comfortable barns and other outbuildings. The interiors of
farm-houses, especially the more recent ones, are well arranged fo'r
convenience and comfort, and many of them are even luxuriously fur-
nished, f
How greatly and essentially the character of the county
is changing, however, is shown by the following extract
from the report of the secretary of the Hamilton County
Agricultural society to the State Board of Agriculture,
published in its annual report for 187 1. He says:
Our county is no longer a farming community. Our farms are now
occupied as dairies, rented by gardners, used as pasture or meadow,
and on the railroads and leading thoroughfares are being subdivided
and improved as country homes by the business men of Cincinnati.
Other crops are produced in great abundance and va-
riety from the soil of Hamilton county; the fertile valleys
near Cincinnati, especially the broad valley of Mill creek,
which has a peculiarly favorable location, are in great re-
quest for market gardening. The lands here, and indeed
generally throughout the county, are exceedingly valua-
ble; and large sums are invested in and large fortunes
realized by the pursuits of agriculture in this region.
The Mill Creek valley just mentioned, which consti-
tutes one of the most prominent and important physical
features of the county, begins near Hamilton, in Butler
county, not far from the valley of the Great Miami. In-
deed, it is said that in wet seasons the water is discharged
Irom a large pond near Hamilton at the same time
through Pleasant run into the Great Miami and by Mill
creek into the Ohio river. This creek becomes a con-
siderable stream as it nears Cincinnati; and traversing, as
*Ohio Geological Survey, vol. I, p. 26.
■|-Ohio Secretary of State's report for 1877.
it now does, the greatest breadth of the city, it is justly
reckoned, notwithstanding the pollution of its water by
manufactories and other establishments along its borders,
an important element in the topography of the city and
county. Other streams, except the Miami and Ohio
rivers, are comparatively insignificant, although some of
them, in the course of the ages, have come to occupy
broad and deep valleys.
North of the range of hills adjoining, or rather now
mostly in the city, in the country beyond Avondale and
the Walnut Hills, is a spacious basin or amphitheatre of
about twenty-five square miles, in which a splendid city
might advantageously be located, but to and through
which the city of Cincinnati will undoubtedly one day
extend. It is traversed by the Marietta & Cincinnati
railroad, and the Montgomery and other turnpike roads.
The soil in this and the northwest portions of the county
is for the most part friable clay, resting on limestone,
which gives them an excellent character as grass-growing
regions, from which much of the hay to Cincinnati is
supplied.
Permanent springs are not very numerous in the
county, but well water of excellent quality is in general
obtained without difficulty. Ponds and morasses were
formerly frequent, especially in the northern part of the
county, but are less known now.
More attention is given in this valley to grain and
wool-growing than to stock-raising. The secretary of
State's report for 1877 says:
The lands are entiiely too dear to be devoted to sheep growing fo
wool; hence comparatively few fine-wooled sheep are in the valley, the
bulk of the sheep being ' ' native " and mutton breeds. As early as 1816
attention was being directed to the improvement in the horse stock of
the valley, and from that time until the present that interest has been
fully maintained. Those who are familiar with the strains of thorough-
breds will find that many of the famous horses of the west either were
bred in this valley or else traced back to stock in this region for its an-
cestry. Less attention is given to cattle in this valley than other agri-
cultural operations indicate, or than the wealth and fertility of the valley
warrant. But the lesser interest in cattle is fully compensated by the
greater interest in horses and in swine. This latter species of domestic
animals is one of the "leading agricultural pursuits" of the region.
The justly famous "Magie" (pronounced Mag-gee) breed of hogs is
claimed to have been originated in this valley. Early maturity and
large weights are the peculiar commendatory qualities of this breed, it
being no unfrequent occurrence that a head of fifteen or twenty are
slaughtered averaging near about si.\ hundred pounds net.
The average throughout the State is eight head of swine for every one
hundred acres of area. In the Miami valley the average is over thir-
teen head, or sixty-three per cent, more than the general average; or,
the State average is seventy-seven head for every one hundred inhab-
itants, and in this valley there are, in round numbers, seventy-nine
head to the one hundred inhabitants. When it is remembered that
more than one-fourth of the population of the State resides in this val-
ley, it will be seen at once that one-fourth of all the swine in the State
are grown here. Notwithstanding the Scioto valley has fifty-eight
head of swine more to the one hundred inhabitants, it has less to the
hundred acres than the Miami.
The climate of this part of the Ohio valley is mild
and genial. The average temperature of the year is
about 54° Fahrenheit, above zero, against 52° at Mari-
etta, also in the Ohio valley, 50° on the south shore of
Lake Erie, and 49° to 48° in the highlands, of the inte-
rior. In the early day the temperature was even milder.
Dr. Drake, in his Notices concerning Cincinnati, pub-
lished in 1810, says:
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
"The latter [the Ohio river, which he was compar-
ing with the Delaware at Philadelphia] at this place is
but seldom blocked up with the ice which it floats, and
was never known to freeze over." In his Picture of
Cincinnati, published five years later, he notes the
average temperature of 1808 as 56.4°; that of 181 1 as
56.62°, and the average for the eight years, 1806-13, as
54.25°, which, he says, "maybe regarded as an accurate
exponent of the temperature of Cincinnati." One
hundred degrees, from below zero to above, was the
mean temperature of those years. During nine years' ob-
servation the thermometer at Cincinnati was below zero
but twice in a winter. The mean summer heat for those
years was but seventy-four, and the thermometer stood at
ninety degrees or above for an aveiage of but fourteen
days a summer. In those times, according to Dr.
Drake's observation of six years, there was an average
per year of one hundred and seventy-six fair, one hun-
dred and five cloudy, and eighty-four variable days.
The annual fall of rain and snow amounted to thirty-six
inches, while now it is forty-seven and forty-three one-
hundredths inches at Cincinnati and along the Ohio val-
ley, against thirty-six in the northern part of the State.
Said Dr. Drake, in his publication of 1815:
This country h.is never been visited by a violent storm, either from
the northeast or southeast, nor do the clouds from any eastern point
often exhibit many electric phenomena. But from every direction on the
opposite sides of the meridian they come charged with lightning and
driven by impetuous winds. Of these thunder-gusts the northwest is by
far the most prolific source. They occur at any time during the day
and night, but most frequently in the afternoon.
He gives a vivid description of such a storm, which
occurred May 28, 1809, and of which some notice will
be found hereafter in the history of Cincinnati, in this
work.
For eighty-three years ending with the last day of
1879, during which observations had been taken at Cin-
cinnati, the average temperature of the year was 57° 65',
and for the last decade of that period it was 53° 65',
showing a change of five degrees for the colder since
1797. Some of the cold seasons in that day, however,
were intensely severe. The lowest degree of Fahrenheit's
thermometer ever registeaed in the city was noted Jan-
uary 8, of the year last named, when, according to the
observations of Colonel Winthrop Sargent, secretary of
the Northwest Territory, it went to 18°, and would have
gone lower, it is believed, had not the then dense forests
of southern Ohio and the Cincinnati basin broken the
icy northwest wind that prevailed. The winter-of 1806-7
was also thoroughly frigid, and the seventh of February,
of that season, when the thermometer marked 11° below,
has come down in local tradition as "the cold Friday."
Other cold winters were those of 1855-6, 1856-7, and
1857-8, when the thermometer thirty-two times indicated
temperatures below zero, and at one time the Ohio was
for two months so soHdly frozen over that loaded wagons
crossed safely. Another severe winter was that of 1863-4,
which brought so much suffering to soldiers in the army.
On the first of January, 1864, which has a permanent
reputation in meteorology as "the cold New Year," 14°
below was touched at Cincinnati. Since then, the win-
ters of 1870-1, 1872-3 and the three succeeding winters,
and those of 1877-8 and 1878-9 have been among
the coldest known in the valley. Among warm winters
that have been observed are those of 1792-3-4, i795~6>
1799-1800-1, 1805-6-7, 1809-10-11, and 1879-80, the
last of these warmer than any other since 1827-8, and
10° warmer than any other since 1835-6. The thermom-
eter exhibited 69° above in the shade on Forefathers'
day, December 20, 1877, although that was a generally
cold winter, and stood at 63° or more for some days.
The average rainfall per year, during the eighty-three
years designated, has been 39.71 inches, and somewhat
lighter, 37.61, for the last twenty five years of the period.
Least fell in 1856 — 22.88 inches; and most, 69.42, in
1847. The average snowfall annually is about twenty
inches, against thirty-five in central and northern Ohio.
The greatest depth at one time ever observed in southern
Ohio was twenty-eight inches, January 18, 1862, though
twenty-two fell January 19, 1846. Sixty-nine inches fell
in the winter of 1855-6, and sixty-five just ten years
thereafter. Snowfalls in April sometimes occur, but very
seldom later. April 20, 1814, ten inches fell, and five
April II, 1874.
Forest trees abounded in the early day in great variety,
and are still, notwithstanding the dense population and
extensive cultivation of the soil in the county, prominent
among its physical features. Dr. Drake in his day enu-
merated over one hundred and twenty species, and from
their number and the luxuriance of the forest growth
he argued the superiority of the soil to that of the United
States generally — "for it has as many kinds of trees above
sixty feet in height as all the States taken together, while
it has only one-half the number of species." He also enu-
merates a great number of such herbaceous plants as are
deemed useful in medicine and the arts, most of which
are indigenous to the soil. Of trees, the following-named
are twenty of the most common species in Ohio, which
are now found in Hamilton county, in the relative order
of abundant growth in which they appear in the list:
Oak, beech, hickory, sugar maple, poplar, walnut, elm,
sycamore, ash, locust, mulberry, pine, Cottonwood, white
walnut (butternut), cherry, gum, soft maple, tulip, buck-
eye, and silver maple. In 1853 the county still had
eighty-eight thousand one hundred and twenty-three
acres, or thirty-seven and seven-tenths per cent, of the
area, in forest; within seventeen years thereafter fifty-
three thousand six hundred and fifty acres were removed,
and in 1870 it had but thirty-four thousand four hundred
and seventy-three acres in forest, or fourteen and seventy-
six hundredths per cent, of its acreage — by far the least
of any county in the State — and the breadth of its woods
is annually decreasing.
The great municipality of Hamilton county, as all the
world knows, is of course Cincinnati, with its area com-
prising about one-fourteenth of the entire territory of
the county and its population of more than a quarter of a
million.
The townships of the county along theOhio river are:
To the east of Cincinnati — Anderson, between the Little
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Miami and the Clermont county line, and Spencer, ad-
joining the city ; west of Cincinnati, in order — Delhi and
Miami. Those west of the Great Miami are Whitewater,
Harrison (in the northwestern corner of the county), and
Crosby (east of Harrison on the lines of Butler county
and the Little Miami river). Other townships in the
northern tier, between the Great and Little Miamis, from
west to east, are Colerain, Springfield, Sycamore, and
Symmes. There remain, all these adjoining Cincinnati,
Green township on the west. Mill Creek township on the
north, and Columbia, between Mill Creek and the Little
Miami.
The post offices of the county, besides Cincinnati, are
[February, 1881]: Banesburgh, Bevis, Bond Hill, Califor-
nia, Carthage, Cedar Point, Cherry Grove, Cheviot, Cleves,
College Hill, Columbia,* Creedville, Corryville,* Cum-
minsville,* Delhi, Dent, Dunlap, East Sycamore, Eliza-
bethtown, Elmwood Place, Evendale, Forestville, Fruit
Hill, Glendale, Grand Valley, Groesbeck, Harrison, Hart-
well, Karr, Linwood, Lockland, Ludlow Grove, Ma-
deira, Madisonville, Miami, Mill Creek,* Montgomery,
Mount Airy, Mount Healthy, Mount Lookout, Mount
Washington, Newton, North Bend, Norwood, Oakley,
Plainville, Pleasan Ridge, Pleasant Run, Pleasant Valley,
Preston, Reading, Remington, Riverside, Sater, Shann-
ville. Sixteen Mile Stand, Sedamsville,* Spring Dale,
Sweet Wine, Symmes, Taylor's Creek, Terrace Park,
Transit, Trautman Walnut Hills, Winton Place, West
Riverside, and Wyoming. Many of these are also incor-
porated villages; those marked* are within the corporate
limits of Cincinnati, and are branches or "stations" of
the Cincinnati post office.
The description of Hamilton county will be incident-
ally continued through the next, necessarily a much more
elaborate chapter.
CHAPTER IL
GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY.
Wliere is the dust that has not been alive?
— Young, "Night Thoughts,"
There was life in the valley of the Ohio untold ages
before man came to gaze upon its beautiful hills and
waters. Away back in the stately march of the geologic
epochs, the Silurian seas here swarmed with animate ex-
istence, many of its forms so small that the aid of the
microscope is needed to trace them; and some so nu-
merous that great and valuable layers of rock are com-
posed almost wholly of their remains. The history of
the countless varieties of sentient life that so abounded
here seons on geons ago may be read for us only in the
rocks of the valley and the hills. It is otherwise un-
written, except in the books of their Creator. Industrious
inquirers, working slowly and carefully through many
years, have traced the forms of them, have given them
names, and catalogued them. It does not fall within the
province of this work to present a Hst of these. It may
suffice for our purposes to say that the paleontological
catalogue published within two or three years by Pro-
fessor Mickleborough, of the Cincinnati normal school,
and Professor Wetherby, of the University of Cincinnati,
represents no vertebrate, and their presence in the rocks
of Hamilton county is exceedingly rare; but from the
sub-kingdoms are presented fifty-seven species of annu-
losa (besides seventy-eight undetermined), one hundred
and forty-five of moUusca, one hundred and thirty-nine
of molluscoida, sixty-three of ccelenterata, and nine of
protojoa, besides sixteen species representing, in a very
small way, the vegetable kingdom.
The duty of the historian, in this, one of the opening
chapters of this work, is to present something of the to-
pography and geology of the county. In accordance with
our custom in this series of local histories, we rely almost
exclusively for these upon the authorized Report of the
Geological Survey of Ohio, for which the section relating
to Hamilton county was prepared by Professor Edward
Orton, now of the State university at Columbus. What
follows is taken almost verbatim from his report, with
the addition of two or three foot-notes, and some slight
changes in and arrangement of the text.
I. TOPOGRAPHY.
The prominent topographical features of Hamilton
county divide the surface into two main divisions — high-
land and lowland.
The first division embraces all the higher table-lands
of the county, which have a general elevation of two to
five hundred feet above low-water at Cincinnati. All of
these areas, though often covered with superficial drift
deposits, are underlain with bedded rock, which is every-
where easily accessible, and which impresses pecuhar
features upon the face of the districts that contain it.
To the second division are referred the valleys of the
county, and not only those which hold the present rivers,
but also those in which rio streams of considerable size
are now found, but which are due to the eroding agen-,
cies of an earlier day. Both of the classes of valleys are
often filled with heavy accumulations of drift, but they
agree in being destitute of bedded rock — except at the
levels of the streams they contain, or, as is often the
case, at considerably lower levels.
The thickness of the drift beds does not generally ex-
ceed one«hundred feet, and thus it will be seen that in
the Ohio valley the lowlands have a maximum elevation
of one hundred feet above low-water at Cincinnati ; but
as we follow back the Miamis and the .lesser streams, we
find these beds assuming higher elevations, as the floor of
the country that sustains them is gradually elevated, so
that they sometimes attain, in the northern and eastern
portions of the county, a height of one hundred and fifty
or even two hundred feet above the same base.
In other words, the highlands of the county are the
areas in which the bedded rocks remain, to an elevation
of three hundred feet and more above the Ohio river,
while the lowlands are those areas from which the rocks
/
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
13
have been removed, at least to the existing rivers and
lesser streams.
The slopes that connect these two kinds of areas are
commonly precipitous, as in the river-hills of Cincinnati;
but sometimes the descent is broken by the interposition
of drift deposits.
The valley of the Ohio, which here runs in an east and
west direction, makes the southern boundary of the
county, and, though deep, is comparatively narrow. Sev-
eral of the north and south valleys that traverse the
county are absolutely wider than the Ohio valley; and
when the volumes of the streams that they contain are
taken into the account, the disproportion between them
and the first-named valley is very great. A similar state
of facts obtains through southwestern Ohio — the valleys
that trend to the west of north especially having been
excavated on an ampler scale than the rest, other things
being equal. These facts seem to point to glacial ero-
sion as a prominent cause in the production of the sur-
face features of the country, as the glaciers are known by
the striae they have left to have advanced from the north-
west.
An examination of the map of the county, * in the
light of the facts already known, will serve to show, what
an acquaintance with it abundantly confirms, that its sur-
face has suffered a vast amount of erosion. The most
interesting facts in this connection are not the valleys
which are occupied by the greater streams of to-day, but
those deep and wide valleys that are at present either
entirely deserted by water-courses or traversed by insig-
nificant strenms, wholly inadequate to account for the
erosion of which they have availed themselves. Atten-
tion will be called to one or two instances of this sort.
The broad valley now occupied in part by Mill creek,
and in part left entirely unoccupied, extends continuously
from the. present valley of the Great Miami at Hamilton
to the Clifton hills, just north of Cincinnati, where it
divides into two branches — one passing to the north and
east of the city, and entering the valley of the Little
Miami between Red Bank station and Plainville — while
the other branch, the present valley of Mill creek, passes
directly to the Ohio through the site of the city of Cin-
cinnati.
No rocky barriers — nothing, in fact, but the same drift
terraces that make the walls of its present course — shut
out the Great Miami from entering the Ohio valley at the
same points where the Little Miami and Mill creek now
enter. Indeed, there is the best of reasons for believing
that it has followed, in the past mutations of its history,
those very courses to the great valley. Mill creek has
taken possession of the middle portions of this valley,
but has never occupied more than one of its lower
branches, that one the narrower.
The most striking examples of this erosion of an earlier
day are to be found, however, on the western side of the
county, and are, for the most part, to be referred to the
same river whose agency has already been invoked.
There is an open cut, at least two miles wide, in the
'■'Geological Survey of Ohio, Vol. I.
northeastern part of Crosby township, which bears due
westward from the present course of the Great Miami.
Near the west line of the township this old channel is
deflected to the southward, and is thenceforward occu.
pied by the Dry fork of Whitewater, until it is merged in .
the valley of this last-named river. That the streams
which hide themselvss in this great valley to-day have
had next to nothing to do with its excavation, is evident
from the fact that there is not one of them whose course
agrees with the direction of the valley, but all cut across
it transversely. More than half of the townships of
Crosby, Harrison, and Whitewater have been thus worn
away and made to give bed to the rivers in the successive
stages of their history. The channel above named can
be confidently set down as another of the earlier courses
of the Great Miami.
Still a third of these old channels, more interesting in
some respects than either of the two just named, is found
near Cleves, Miami township. By reference to the map,
it will be observed that the river here approaches within
a mile of the Ohio ; but, instead of entering the great val-
ley at this point, it makes an abrupt detour to the west
and south, and only reaches its destination after a circuit
of ten miles. Its approach to the Ohio at Cleves is
blocked by a ridge that is interposed, one hundred and
fifty to two hundred and seventy-five feet in height. A
tunnel that was carried through this ridge, in the con-
struction of the Whitewater Valley canal, and which is
at present used by the Indianapolis & Cincinnati rail-
road, shows it to be composed of glacial drift. The di-
rection of this channel is in the line in which the glaciers
advanced, so that its existence can be quite plausibly
ascribed to the great agents of denudation. Whether or
not the origin of this channel can be referred to the
glacial period, its closure was certainly effected there.
It tasks the imagination to account for the excavation
of these broad and deep valeys by existing erosive agen-
cies, even when they are reinforced by the important ad-
ditions of glacial ice; but to agencies identical with
these the work must be referred. ■ There is no evidence,
as has already been shown, of minor flexures or axes of
disturbance in the Blue Limestone region, by which the
strata could have been thrown into hills and valleys; but,
on the contrary, the beds are found to occur in unbroken
regularity, being affected only by the slight general dip,
of which account has been previously given. It is
scarcely necessary to say that opposite sides of valleys
give every possible proof of having been originally con-
tinuous, the sections which adjacent exposures furnish
being absolutely identical in their leading features.
The Cincinnati group has been found to demand for
its original formation long-continued cycles of peaceful
growth and deposition, and in, like manner the fashion-
ing of its bed into the present topographical features of
the country must have been in progress through such
protracted ages that the historic period in comparison
shrinks into insignificance.
[The correctness or necessity of the appellation, "Cin-
cinnati group," which often occurs in the geological reports,
is gravely doubted by the local geologists. In January,
14
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
1879, a committee of ten, headed by S. A. Miller, esq.,
reported to the Cincinnati Society of Natural History
"that the fossils found in the strata for twenty feet or
more, above low-water mark of the Ohio river, in the
first ward of the city of Cincinnati, and on Crawfish
creek, in the eastern part of the city, and in Taylor's
creek, east of Newport, Kentucky, at an elevation of
more than fifty feet above low-water mark in the Ohio
river, indicate the age of the Utica Slate group of New
York. A fauna is represented in these rocks that is not
found above or below them. . . Moreover,
brown shales and greenish blue shales and concretionary
nodules give a lithological character to the strata which
distinguishes them from the strata both above and
below." All strata containing Iriarthriis becki, the com-
mittee hold, are to be referred to the age of the Utica
Slate group of New York. Above its range is the Hud-
son River group. The Trenton group is not exposed at
Cincinnati nor in the Ohio valley anywhere west of the
city, but is probably represented in the rocks of Ohio a-
few miles east of that point. The Utica group is not
represented elsewhere in Ohio. All the lower Silurian
rocks in southwestern Ohio belong to the Hudson River
group, except the small exposure of the Utica slate in
the banks of the Ohio and east of the city in the immedi-
ate vicinity of the river. The committee therefore report
that the name "Cincinnati group" should be dropped,
"not only because it is a synonym, but because its re-
tention can subserve no useful purpose in the science,
and because it will in the future, as in the past, lead to
erroneous views and fruitless discussions." Investiga-
tion, so far, they add, has not led to any other or further
sub-divisions than those formerly adopted.]
Strictly speaking, there are no hills in Hamilton
county, the surface being all referable to the table-lands
and to the valleys worn in them. What are called the
Cincinnati hills, for example, are merely the isolated
remnants of the old plateau, which have so far escaped
the long-continued denudation. Indeed, the highlands
of the county are all of them outliers or insulated
masses, surrounded on every side by the valleys of exist-
ing rivers, along the deep excavations wrought out by
these streams at an earlier date and under somewhat
different geographical conditions. These islands of the
higher ground vary in area between quite wide limits,
some of them containing a few scores of acres, and others
as many square miles.
The high ground immediately appertaining to Cincin-
,nati furnishes a good example of these outliers. By
reference to the map, the insulation of this high ground
will be seen to be perfectly effected by the Little Miami
valley, the Ohio valley, the Mill Creek valley, and the
abandoned channel of the Great Miami, already describ-
ed, on the northern and eastern sides. Very important
consequences result to the city from this insulation. It
follows, for instance, that there are but two natural ways
of ingress to the city by lowland, or, in other words, that
there are but two railroad routes possible — one by the
Ohio valley and the other by the Mill Creek valley.
Both of these are circuitous and in other respects unfa-
vorable, especially as ways of approach from the east.
These difficulties have led to the project of reaching the
business center of the city by a tunnel from the northern
valley.
The Dayton Short Line railroad encounters, near West
Chester, one of these outliers in its route, which necessi-
tates a grade of forty-five feet to the mile at this point —
the highest grade, in fact, on this line (New York Cen-
tral) between tidewater and the Ohio river.
Another very noticeable outlier is found a mile west of
North Bend. The Ohio & Mississippi railroad skirts it
on the Ohio valley side, while the Indianapolis & Cincin-
nati road passes to the north of it, through the old glacial
channel, which has already been described.
II, BEDDED ROCKS, AND THEIR ECONOMICAL PRODUCTS.
The upper division of the Blue Limestone or the
Lebanon beds has never been found in Hamilton county.
The lower boundary of the Cincinnati group has not
yet been definitely fixed, but enough is known to make
it certain that it is not found among the surface rocks of
Ohio. The approximate place in the general geological
scale of the strata exposed in the hills of Cincinnati has
long been known. For the last forty years, at least, they
have been r.:ferred to the later divisions of Lower Silu-
rian time and recognized as belonging to the Hudson or
Hudson River group of the New York geologists and of
the general geological scale of the country.
The Cincinnati beds proper come next in order after
the Point Pleasant beds, in Clermont county, which are
the lowest rocks of the series in the State. They have
for their inferior limit low-water in the Ohio and for an
upper boundary the highest stratum found in the Cincin-
nati hills. The greatest elevation above low-water in the
immediate vicinity of Cincinnati is given by the city eu;
gineer as four hundred and sixty-five feet. Abating fif-
teen feet for the drift covering of the surface, we can
certainly find forty-five feet of bedded rock in this divis-
ion, almost every foot of which lies open to study within
the city limits. The only stratum, however, that admits
of easy identification, lies at an elevation of four hundred
and twenty-five feet above the river; and this is accord-
ingly assumed as the upper limit of this division.
Upon differences in lithological character, with which
also changes in fossil contents ally themselves, a sub-
division of the Cincinnati beds is possible into three
groups, which may be named respectively, in ascending
order, the River Quarry beds, the Middle Shales, and the
Hill Quarry beds. The first of these subdivisions has a
thickness of fifty feet, the second of two hundred and
fifty feet, and the third of one hundred and fifty feet.
Above the highest stratum of the Cincinnati hills and
the lowermost beds of the Upper Silurian age, three
hundred feet of rock intervene, that belong unmistakably
to the same formation, being connected with it by identity
in lithological character and by a large number of com-
mon fossils. These upper beds are nowhere found within
twenty miles of Cincinnati, and yet there has never been
the slightest hesitation in referring them to the same series
to which the rocks there exhibited belong.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
15
The names assigned, it will be remembered, to the
three divisions recognized here, are in ascending order:
The River Quarry Beds;
The Middle, or Eden Shales;
The Hill Quarry Beds.
No explanation is necessary of the first and the last of
these names. To the intervening division a name can
properly be assigned, derived from the name of the park
on the eastern side of the city, in the grading of which
so great a display of this division is made. This division
can, therefore, be styled the Eden shales, from the Eden
park.
The whole series of the Cincinnati group is composed
of alternating beds of limestone and shale. The shale
is more commonly known under the name of blue clay;
and this designation is not inappropriate. It is sometimes
styled marl or marlite, and the use of the latter designa-
tion is also justified by its composition. The most objec-
tionable term by which it is characterized, is soapstone,
as this name is pre-occupied by a metamorphic magne-
sian silicate.
The limestone of the series may, in general terms, be
described as an even-bedded, firm, durable, semi-crystal-
line limestone, crowded for the most part with fossils
through its whole extent and often bearing upon its sur-
face the impressions of these fossils. Its color is not
uniform, as the designation by which the whole series is
familiarly known, "blue limestone," would seem to imply.
The prevailing color, however, may be said to be a gray-
ish blue, chiefly due to the presence of protoxide of iron,
which, upon exposure, is converted into a higher oxide.
The weathered surfaces generally show yellowish or light
gray shades, that are in marked contrast with the fresh
fracture. Drab-colored courses occasionally alternate
with the blue.
The limestone varies in all these respects somewhat,
however, in its different divisions. The Point Pleasant
beds, and the lower courses of the Cincinnati division,
deviate most widely from the description already given.
They are lighter in color than the upper courses and in
some instances are slaty in structure, while in others they
have a tendency to assume lenticular forms of concre-
tionary origin, sometimes to such an extent as to destroy
their value as building-rock. The layers are also excep-
tionally heavy, attaining a thickness of sixteen or eighteen
inches, and are often so free from fossils as to afford no
indication of the kinds of life from which they were
derived.
A few feet above low-water at Cincinnati, a very fine
and compact stone comes in, that is found in occasional
courses for fifty to seventy-five feet. It is composed, as
its weathered surfaces show, almost entirely of crinoidal
columns, mostly of small size, and mainly referable to
species of heterocrinus. The courses vary in thickness
from an inch to a foot. The lighter layers ring like pot-
metal under the blows of a hammer.
Ascending in the series, the limestone layers are very
generally fossiliferous and are rarely homogeneous in
structure, being disfigured, to a greater or less degree, by
chambers of shale or limestone mud, from some of which
cavities, certainly, fossils have been dissolved. The
thickness of the courses varies generally between the
limits indicated above, but a large proportion of the
stone ranges between four and eight inches. Now and
then, however, a layer attains a thickness of twenty
inches, or even two feet. Near the upper limits of the
formation the layers are thinner and less even than be-
low, affording what quarrymen call "shelly" stone.
The composition of the limestones from the upper
half of the group is quite nearly uniform, averaging
about ninety per cent, of carbonate of lime; but as we
descend in the series the limestones grow more silicious.
The shales, clays, or marlites, which with the lime-
stones make up the Cincinnati group, must next be
characterized. They constitute a large part of the sys-
tem, certainly four-fifths of it in the two lower divisions,
and probably not less than three-fifths of its whole ex-
tent. The proportions of limestone and shale do not
appear altogether constant, it is to be observed, at the
same horizon, a larger amount of stone being found at
one point than at others.
The shales, as implied in one of the names by which
they are known, " blue clay," are generally blue in color,
but the shade is lighter than in the limestone. In addi-
tion to the blue shales, however, drab-colored clays ap-
pear in the series at various points. As the blue shales
weather into drab by the higher oxidation of the iron
they contain, the conclusion is frequently drawn that the
last-named variety marks merely a weathered stage of
the former. But, aside from the impossibility of ex-
plaining the facts as they occur on this hypothesis, analy-
sis disproves it, and shows that the differences in color
are connected with essential differences in the composi-
tion of the belts to which they belong.
Most of the shales slake promptly on exposure to the
air, and furnish the materials of a fertile soil; but there
are other portions included under this general division
which harden as the quarry-water escapes, and become
an enduring stone if protected from the action of frost.
The shales are sometimes quite heavily charged with
fossils, which generally have a firmer structure than the
material that encloses them, so that the fossils, often in
an admirable state of preservation, remain behind after
the shales have melted away. All of the groups of ani-
mals that are represented in the limestones are found
also in the shales; but from the unequal numbers that
are represented here to-day, it seems evident that some
sorts were able to adapt themselves to the conditions
which shaly deposits imply much more easily than others.
The proportions of limestone and shale in the series
we have already spoken of in a general way; but it will be
profitable to give additional statements on this point. In
the River Quarry beds, the lowermost portion of the Cin-
cinnati beds proper, there are about four feet of shale to
one foot of limestone, but the shales increase in force as
we ascend in the series, until at about one hundred feet
above low-water the proportion was more than twice as
great. For the two hundred feet next succeeding, that
have been styled the Eden shales or Middle shales, there
is seldom more than one foot of stone in ten feet of as-
i6
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
cent. The amount of waste is so large, therefore, that
quarries cannot be profitably worked in this whole di-
vision. The third portion of the series, the Hill quarries,
have often lower limits — the beds in which the solid rock
has risen again to as high a proportion as one foot in five
or six feet of ascent. From this point upward to the
completion of the group, there is no such predominance
of shales as is found below, though in the lower parts of
the Lebanon beds shales still constitute more than one-
half of the whole thickness.
It is seen from analyses made that a notable quantity
of alkalies and phosphates, sometimes at least, occurs in
the composition of the shales. It is upon these sub-
stances that the fertility of soils in great measure depends;
and as they are in this case properly distributed through
the sand and clay that make the bulk of the shale, it is
in no way surprising to find very fruitiful soils forming
from the weathering of these beds. The most note-
worthy fact in this connection is the rapidity with which
they are converted into soils. Most of the rocky shales
of the State require a long course of progressive im-
provement before they can be justly termed soils. Their
elements are slowly oxydized and disintegrated, and vege-
table matters slowly added. The exposure of a single
season, however, suffices to cover the Cincinnati shales
with a varied vegetation. All of our ordinary forest trees,
when opportunity is furnished for the distribution of their
seeds, estabhsh themselves promptly upon the shales.
-The black locust seems especially well adapted to such
situations. There is no other use to which the steep
slopes of the Cincinnati hills can be turned that would
subserve as many interests as planting them with black
locust would do.
Dr. Locke called attention to a peculiar feature of the
Blue Limestone beds, viz., a waved structure of the solid
limestone, somewhat analogous in form to the wave-lines
and ripple-marks of the higher series of the State. This
peculiar structure was noticed by him in the upper beds
of the formation, but it is even a more striking character-
istic of the rock in its lower beds, as shown in the river
quarries of Cincinnati, or in the lowermost hundred feet
that are there exposed.
The rocks exhibiting this structure at the point named
are the most compact beds of the fossiliferous limestone.
The bottom of the waved layer is generally even, and be-
neath it' is always found an even bed of shale. The up-
per surface is diversified, as its name suggests, with
ridges and furrows. The interval between the ridges
varies, but in many instances it is about four feet. The
greatest thickness of the ridge is six or seven inches,
while the stone is reduced to one or two inches at the
bottom of the furrow, and sometimes it entirely disap-
pears. The waVed layers are overlain by shale in every
instance. They are often continuous for a considerable
extent, and in such cases the axes of the ridges and fur-
rows have a uniform direction. This direction is a little
south of east in the vicinity of Cincinnati, but in travers-
ing the series these axes are found to bear in various di-
rections.
Dr. Locke's explanation of these facts, involving a fluid
state of the carbonate of lime and sheets of shale falling
in a "vertical strata" through deep seas, seems entirely
inadmissible.
The only other explanation thus far proffered is that
suggested by the name, viz., that the floor of the Cincin-
nati sea was acted on from time to time by waves or sim-
ilar movements of the ocean waters. In opposition to
this view it may be said: First, that there are many rea-
sons for believing that the Cincinnati rocks grew upon
the floor of a deep sea, far below the action of the sur-
face waves; and, second, that the fact of the limestone
layers alone being thus shaped is sufficient to set aside
the explanation. If these inequalities of surface are due
to wave-action of any sort, it is impossible to see why the
action should be limited to the firmest limestone beds of
the series, while the soft shales, which could easily regis-
ter any movement of the waters, never exhibit the slight-
est indications of such agencies.
While both of these modes of accounting for the facts
are rejected as entirely unsatisfactory, nothing in the way
of explanation will be offered here, save the suggestion
that the facts seem to point to concretionary action as the
force to which we must look.
THE ECONOMICAL PRODUCTS
of the Cincinnati group are limited to building stone,
lime, brick and pottery clays, and cement; and of these
none but the first two have, at present, any great impor-
tance. The series yields everywhere abundant supplies
of stone, suitable in every respect for building purposes,.
The advantages that the city of Cincinnati reaps from
the quarries that surround it, are immense. While blue
limestone has been used as a building stone from the first
settlement of the country, it has hitherto enjoyed the
reputation of being serviceable rather than beautiful; but
within the past few years it has been so treated by com-
bination with other building stones as to produce very
fine architectural effects. Numerous exhibitions of this
skilful use of the blue limestone can be seen in tlie re-
cent buildings of the city and suburbs of Cincinnati.
The analysis of the stone shows it to contain ninety or
more per cent, of carbonate of lime. From this it will
be concluded that it can be burned into a hme of a good
degree of purity and strength. When water-washed peb-
bles from gravel banks or river beds are used, the product
is excellent; but the quarry stone always carries with it
so much of the interstratified shale as to darken the lime
and so reduce its value for plastering. For this last use
the mild and white magnesian limes derived from the
Upper Silurian formations that surround Cincinnati, are
the only varieties that are at present approved. The
native supply can, however, be furnished much cheaper
at but little more than half the cost, indeed, of Spring-
field lime; and as it makes a strong cement, the shales
that adhere to the stone possibly adding an hydraulic
quality, it is generally used in laying foundations of all
sorts.
The shales are sometimes resorted to for the manufac-
ture of brick, tile, and pottery ware. The instances are,
however, rare, and are confined to the uppermost beds of
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
17
the system. The products were, in the few instances
noted, unusually fine, the clay working very smoothly
and burning into cream-colored ware of great strength and
excellence.
The occurrence of concretions in the shales of the
Point Pleasant beds and in the lowest strata of the divis-
ion found at Cincinnati, has already been noticed. The
analysis of specimens from the river quarries suggests
hydraulic cement, and they are in fact found to possess a
high degree of hydraulic energy. The supply of these
concretions depends upon the extent of the quarrying,
but at the present rate several hundred tons are thrown
out each year, and as the concretions prove nearly enough
uniform in composition, they can certainly be turned to
good, economical account in the manufacture of a fine
quality of cement. The famous Roman cement of Eng-
land is obtained from similar concretions, which are gen-
erally gathered on the shore after storms and high tides,
though sometimes obtained by digging. All of the river
quarries from Point Pleasant to Lawrenceburgh, Indiana,
yield these concretions — the lowermost beds of all most
abundantly. It may be added that the limestones en-
closing the concretions are silicious enough in composi-
tion to transfer them to the best of cements.
The Cincinnati section exhausts the scale of the coun-
ty, the upper division of the blue limestone, as before
stated, having never been found within its limits. The
River Quarry beds do not constitute a marked feature, in
any respect, of the geology of the county. There are
but comparatively few points where these strata are ex-
posed. A moderate amount of building stone of super-
ior quality is taken from the Covington quarries, oppo-
site Cincinnati. But little of the stone in this portion of
the series can be burned into lime, but the concretions
so abundant in many of the beds, as just hinted, consti-
tute an hydraulic lime of great energy.
The second element of the Cincinnati section — the
Middle or Eden shales — is as much more prominent
than the first in the county as its greater extent in the
vertical scale would lead us to infer. It is, however,
mainly found in the slopes of the hills, as it is not firm
enough in structure to resist denuding agencies, when
unprotected by the higher series. Very few products of
economical value, as we have seen, are derived from this
part of the scale. Indeed, its relations to economical
interests are mainly in the way of disadvantages to be
overcome. These disadvantages result directly from the
nature of the materials of which these beds are com-
posed. It will be remembered that in the two hundred
and fifty feet now under consideration, not more than
one foot in ten is limestone; the remainder being soft
shales, or soapstones, as they are variously designated.
These shales have scarcely tenacity enough to hold their
place in steep descents when acted on by water and ice;
still less, when they have been removed from their or-
iginal beds, can they be made to cohere; and they thus
form treacherous foundations for buildings erected on
theiii or for roadways constructed in them.
The- city of Cincinnati, in many of its building sites.
streets, and approaches, encounters these disadvantages,
which can only be overcome by increased outlay in the
way of foundations. These facts are most clearly shown
in the approaches to the city from the east by the Ohio
valley, frequent slides occurring along the steep slopes of
shale in which streets and dwelhngs are involved. Gilbert
avenue, in process of construction through Eden park,
especially suffered from its geological formation, and re-
quired a large expenditure to give it stability along this
line.
Nearly all the smaller streams that are bedded in these
shales show contortions and flexures of their strata that
have resulted from the slipping of the higher beds into
the valleys.
The third division, viz., of the Hill Quarry- series,
which makes the upland of the county, is by far the most
important of the three, in the area it covers and the pro-
ducts it furnishes. The summits of the insulated masses
already named belong to this division, and constitute
about three-fourths of the surface of the county. Most
of the quarry stone of the county is also derived from this
source. The Cincinnati quarries have thus far been vast-
ly more important than those of any other district; but
as the hills within and adjoining the city limits are being
occupied for building sites, it will result that railroad
transportation will be invoked; and when it comes to
this, the more desirable building stone of the different
formations from adjoining counties will come into com-
petition and be more largely used.
It may be noticed here that it is chiefly due to the
fact that so large an amount of quarrying has been done
about Cincinnati, that this particular locality has become
the classic ground in the way of fossils that it now is.
The numerous and ample exposures gave to the ear-
lier collectors unexampled opportunities — opportunities
which are not likely to be repeated. Many of the most
interesting localities of twenty to twenty-five years
ago are now covered by permanent buildings, and every
year diminishes the available areas. The waste of the
hill quarries furnishes, however, by far the larger propor-
tion of the admirable fossils in the vicinity of Cincin-
nati. Scarcely any exposure of it in the county has
failed to yield choice forms of the various and rarer
groups.
DRIFT DEPOSITS, OR SURFACE GEOLOGY.
The drift formations of the county are mainly divided
into two groups, corresponding to the main topographical
features of the county already indicated, viz. ;
First — The drift deposits of the highlands and slopes.
Second — The low land, or valley drift beds.
I. — Drift deposits cover the highlands of Hamil-
ton county, with but very limited exceptions. Towards
the southern boundary these beds are light, measuring
but a few feet (four to ten) in thickness; and, as already
intimated, areas are occasionally found from which these
deposits are altogether absent, the shallow coating of
soil found in such areas being native or referable to the
decomposition of the limestone that has been bedded
here.
There is a good degree of uniformity among these
i8
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
high level drifts, and the distinction between them and
the native soils, indeed, is not always very manifest.
The presence of rounded pebbles of blue limestone and
of northern rocks, the drift beds, though often but very
sparingly distributed, is the best means of distinguishing
these beds from the native soils. The drift clays are
certainly derived in large part from the waste of blue
limestone, eifected in their case by glacial attrition ; while
the native soils have the same origin, except that the
work of disintegration has been done in their case by
the slow action of the atmosphere. The agreement be-
tween the drift soils of these southern counties and the
native soils which are met here, is closer than is found
between native and foreign soils in most sections of the
State. This seems to be accounted for by the fact that a
large area of the same formation lies north of them,
which the glacial sheet was obhged to traverse and de-
nude before striking upon this region. The blue lime-
stone of these counties is thus largely covered with blue
limestone waste.
The average thickness of these upland drift beds falls
below twenty feet, but occasionally heavier sections are
found. In the northern part of Sycamore township, in
the vicinity of White Oak school-house, a high drift
ridge occurs in which twenty feet of surface clays are
underlain with a deposit of fine yellow moulding sand.
This stratum, when filled with water, is a quicksand,
and renders wells impossible, or at least very difficult to
secure. But little clean gravel occurs in the uplands of
the county, and boulders also are infrequent.
The yellow surface clays sometimes overlie a few feet
of tough blue boulder clay, filled with scratched and
striated pebbles, apparently the product of the melting
glacial sheet. This is not, however, by any means a con-
stant element in the section.
In short, the upland drift of this county is not as
varied and interesting as that of the regions immediately
to the northward, or even to the eastward. The slopes
show the same characters in their drift beds that have
already been described, except that the deposits are
generally heavier.
II. — The second division, or the lowland drift-
beds of the county are in their characteristic formations
of much later date than the deposits already discussed.
These deposits can be classified in their superficial
aspects, under the principal divisions, viz: (a) The bot-
tom lands; (b) the terraces or second bottoms.
These divisions are distinguished from each other, not
only by their different elevations but also by the different
materials of which they are composed, the terraces
being largely composed of gravel, with occasional beds of
sand and clay, while the bottom lands contain, in all
cases, a greater proportion of fine materials.
Of the upland drift no general or typical section was
given, for the reason that, aside from the monotonous de-
posits of yellow clay, there is no uniformity in the order
in which the different formations occur; but in the case of
the division now under consideration, it is possible to
represent in a single section the more important facts that
are to be observed. The deposits of the Ohio valley, it
will be remembered, are to be especially considered in
this report.
A section is here appended, taken at Lawrenceburgh,
Indiana, which gives the general structure of the Ohio
bottom lands more clearly than any exposure met with,
strictly within the limits of the county. Beginning at
low-water, we find the deposits that make up the river
bank arranged in the following order (ascending):
FEET.
6. Brick clay, covered with one to two feet of soil 6
5. Land, gravel, and loam 30
4. Ochreous sand I'A
3. Carbonaceous clay, an ancient soil or forest bed 7
2. Ochreous sand J^
I. Clean gravel 6
Total SI
The elements of this section will be noted in their
order. The first of them, six feet of gravel, is perhaps
the least constant of the series, being sometimes substi-
tuted by some of the clays of the drift. The gravel of
the Ohio differs from that of the Miamis in being largely
composed of sandstone pebbles instead of limestone.
It is, consequently, less durable than the river or bank
gravel of the Miami districts, and this fact, taken in con
nection with the difficulty of access, withholds it generally
from applications to road-making.
The second, third, and fourth elements need to be
taken together, as they are closely connected in their his-
tory. The point to be noted in regard to them is the
constant occurrence of carbonaceous clay between the
seams of ochreous gravel. The clay is quite heavily
charged with vegetable matter, much of it in such a
state of preservation that it can be readily identified, and
often portions again intermingled in a fine state of subdi-
vision with the substance of the clay. The minutest
roots of trees — some of the latter still in place — twigs
and branches, layers of leaves, ripened fruits, grapes, and
sedges, are all clearly distinguishable. Several of the
species of trees can be determined, some- by their wood,
others by their leaves and fruits. Among them may be
named the sycamore, the beech, the shellbark hickory,
the buckeye, and the red cedar. A cucurbitaceous plant,
probably the wild balsam apple, is also shown to have
been abundant by its seeds, which are preserved in the
clay.
The leaves frequently occur in layers several inches
thick, and are very like the accumulations that are now
left in eddies of the river by freshets or floods. The de-
posits of the river at present always have an elevation of
at least twenty feet and sometimes even of forty feet
above the bed now under review.
The constant occurrence of vivianite or phosphate of
iron in this deposit is to be noticed. Its presence, in-
deed, is an invariable characteristic. The mineral is
usually found in small grains, but sometirnes it replaces
twigs and leaves and other vegetable growths. The
quantity in some portions of the beds is considerable,
amounting, sometimes, to two or three per cent, of the
whole deposit. In such cases it imparts its color to the
mass, and this justifies the name by which it is known,
"blue earth."
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
19
Several apparently trustworthy accounts have been re-
ceived of the discovery of the bones and teeth of the
mastodon and mammoth in this deposit; but these and
all other mammalian remains are of very rare occurrence.
It is possible that the "chips" and "axe-marked" stumps
reported at various points in excavations in the drift beds,
attest the former presence here of the gigantic beaver now
extinct — castoroides Ohioeinis. It was certainly a tenant
of the State during the general period to which this old
forest bed must be referred. That its work upon trees
might easily be mistaken for axe marks, will need no
proof to any one acquainted with the work of the existing
species of beaver.
In a few instances, land and fresh water shells have
been found in the clay, sometimes in quantity enough to
convert the clay into a shell marl.
This stratum is shown at all points along the valley in
which bottom lands occur. Its elevation above low-
water varies from five to twenty feet. It is generally
covered superficially with the waste of the overlying
banks; but even in such cases it reveals its presence by
the long lines of willows and other vegetable growths that
establish themselves upon its outcrop. Two things con-
spire to adapt it especially to the growth of vegetation.
In the first place, it is an impervious stratum, and turns
out the water that descends through the overlying loams
and sandy clays, thus giving to willows and other plants
of like requirements a constant supply of moisture; and
secondly, this stratum, as has been already intimated, is
in reality an ancient soil, having been carried at an earlier
day through the processes of amelioration by which beds
of sand and clay are fitted to support vegetable growths.
There are, however, many places where the force of
the current in high water uncovers these beds, and where
consequently good sections are always offered. Excel-
lent disclosures of them are found at New Richmond,
Clermont county, and also at Point Pleasant, on the Ken-
tucky shore. The spring flood of 1872 furnished an un-
surpassed exhibition of this formation at the mouth of
the Little Miami river. Rafts of tree trunks are shown
at all of these points, though the wood generally perishes
very quickly when exposed to the air.
That this very interesting stratum so long escaped ob-
servation is probably due to the fact that it could so easily
be referred to the agencies that are now at work in the
valley. When the trunks of trees and layers of leaves be-
longing to it have been noticed in the banks of the river,
it has naturally enough been supposed that they are the
deposits of earlier floods, agreeing as they do with the
materials transported by the floods of our own time. But
in describing the Lawrenceburgh section, now under con-
sideration, as the general section of the Ohio valley de-
posits, it has already been shown, at least by implication,
that this explanation is inadmissible. The extension of
this sheet of carbonaceous clay under all the various drift
deposits of the valley, as is shown by very numerous nat-
ural and artificial sections, proves that it is of earlier date
than these overlying deposits, and the character of this
stratum shows that it has a very different history from that
which these higher deposits record.
It is, perhaps, still too early to write out this history in
its minuter features, but the facts already given show us
that we have in this sheet of blackened clay the bottom
lands of the Ohio at an earlier day, and, indeed, under
very different conditions from those that now prevail.
The river then ran in a channel lower by forty feet, at
least, than that which it now holds, and the great valley
was then empty of the immense accumulations of sand,
clay, loam, and gravel, which constitute its bottom lands
and terraces to-day.
The various vegetable growths with which this stratum
is filled, are to be regarded as largely the production of
the soil on which they are now found. There is no other
satisfactory mode of accounting for the particular kinds
and enormous amount of vegetable matter traced here.
The ochre seams above and below this ancient soil
seem to point to marshy conditions that were brought in
with the changing levels of the valley. Of the two, the
upper seam is the more constant.
In the Lawrenceburgh section we find thirty-five feet
(thirty to fifty in the general section) of sands, gravels,
clays and loams, which constitute the Ohio bottoms, as
the term is generally used. There is no fixed order in
the alternation of these materials, except that the surface
portions have, for a few feet in depth, a tolerably uniform
character. The soil of the bottom lands is quite
homogeneous in constitution, and has obviously been
formed by the subjection to atmospheric agencies of just
such material as it now covers. Beneath the soil, and
extending to a depth of about fifteen feet, beds of yellow
clay occur. The proportions of sand mixed with the
clay vary somewhat, increasing towards the lower limit
named, and below this the beds consist rather of sand
than clay. The beds of clay above named furnish an
excellent material for brickmaking. The supply of the
Cincinnati market is almost entirely derived from this
horizon. The great depth of these brick clays, and their
entire freedom from pebbles, render a very economical
manufacture of brick possible.
Below this limit, sand and gravel and streaks of loam
are met, without regularity of arrangement. Of the fif-
teen to twenty feet intervening between the bottom of the
brick clays and the summit of the buried soil, the larger
part consists of gravel. The gravel of this horizon is
seldom clean, like that described at the level of low-
water, but consists of large-sized sandstone pebbles, four
to six inches in diameter, mingled with finer materials.
An equivalent of these beds, but of local occurrence,
is the fine-grained clay described in the geological reports
as "Springfield clay." It never occurs in extensive
sheets, but is quite limited in vertical and horizontal ex-
tent. The heaviest accumulation of it observed in
Hamilton county is in the city of Cincinnati, on East
Pearl street, above Pike. It has a thickness there of
more than thirty feet, as has been aiscertained in the ex-
cavations for the foundations of buildings. It has been
turned to account in its different exposures for different
purposes — at Miamisburgh, for the manufacture of paint;
at Springfield, for the manufacture of "Milwaukee brick,"
the clay being rich in lime and poor in oxide, and thus
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
burning white, while a new use has been found for it in
Cincinnati. It was successfully employed in preparing
the floor of the new reservoir, its fineness of grain and
consequent toughness fitting it admirably for this purpose.
It must have been accumulated in eddies or protected
areas, during the later ages of the period of submergence.
The gravel terraces occupy a higher level than the
formations already described. The terrace on which
Cincinnati stands, may be taken as a fair example of
them all. Its altitude above low-water varies from one
hundred to one hundred and twenty feet, the average
elevation being one hundred and eight feet. It is com-
posed of distinctly stratified gravel and sand of varying
degrees of fineness and purity. The gravel stones are all
water-worn. In weight they seldom reach ten pounds.
The upper tributaries of the Ohio supply the materials in
part, but a much larger proportion in the vicinity of Cin-
cinnati is derived from the limestone rocks of western
Ohio and the crystalline beds of Canada. The propor-
tion here to be noted among the smaller-sized pebbles is,
of ten feet, five of Upper Silurian and Devonian lime-
stones, three of Lower Silurian, least worn, one foot of
granitic, and one of sandstones, etc., of the Upper Ohio.
Occasional seams of clay loam occur, but seldom of
extent or tenacity enough to constitute reliable water-
bearers. Less frequently met, but still constituting a
noteworthy feature of the gravel terraces, are seams of
bituminous coal, in small water-worn fragments.
The terraces overlie, as will be seen, the formation
previously described. Few sections are carried deep
enough to reveal the lower beds, but the leaves and wood
of the buried soil are occasionally met at considerable
depth, and usually, on this account, they attract attention.
The following general order of materials will be observed
in passing from the surface of the terrace to low-water.
FEET.
Soil 2- s
Gravel and sand, with seams of loam -4060
Brick clay, with sand and loam ^ . , 20-30
Buried soil, witli trees, leaves, etc 5-10
Gravel and clay 5-10
72. 1 IS
The leading facts in the structure of the terraces show
that their history is not to be explained by the present
conditions of the continent. They must have been
formed under water at a time when the face of the coun-
try held a lower level than it now does, by one hundred
or more feet. They thus bear direct testimony to two of
the most' surprising conclusions which the study of the
Drift period has furnished to us, viz: That the continent
sank, during the latter stages of this period, considerably
below its present level, and that it was afterwards re-ele-
vated.
There is one other line of facts in connection with the
drift beds of the county that must not be omitted here.
It is the great depth which some of these deposits have
been found to hold below the present drainage of the
country. The series of facts obtained by Timothy Kirby,
esq., in boring a deep well in Mill Creek valley, at Cum-
minsville, now within the corporate limits of Cincinnati,
proves very interesting in this as well as in other respects.
Beginning at an elevation of ninety feet above low-water
of the Ohio, a succession of drift deposits was penetra-
ted until a depth of sixty feet below low-water was
reached, the bedded rock being first struck at a depth of
one hundred and fifty-one feet below the point of begin-
ning. The deposits included, in descending order, twelve
feet of soil and brick clay, four of sand, thirty-four of
blue clay with gravel, nineteen of gravel, three of coarse
sand, eleven of sand with fragments of bituminous coal,
nine of blue clay with gravel (at the bottom of this the
level of low-water in the Ohio was reached), sixteen of blue
clay and fine sand and sprinkled with coal, and forty-three
of sand, water-worn gravel, and blue clay, with occasional
fragments of bituminous coal, below which, at the depth
of one hundred and fifty-one feet from the surface,
were the shales of the Blue Limestone group. Several
remarkable facts are to be observed in this section, the
most striking of which is the great depth to which the
excavation of Mill Creek valley was formerly carried.
The bed of the stream that occupies the valley to-day is
at a higher level by one hundred and twenty feet than
that of the ancient channel. It is easy to see that this
erosion could not have been effected under existing con-
ditions. It can only be explained by a higher altitude
of the continent, and is thus referred to the opening
division of the glacial period. It has not been demon-
strated that continuous channels exist at this great depth ;
but the rocky barriers that fringe the streams do not at
best disprove this theory, as there is always room for a
deeper channel on one side or the other of the great
valleys.
Another interesting fact is the occurrence of water-
worn fragments of bituminous coal, quite similar to those
found in the terraces already noticed. They occur at
various depths, the lowest at one hundred and fifty feet
below the surface and the highest at eighty feet below.
These facts, so far as known, stand by themselves, and
no explanation is proposed. It is hard to see how the
waste -of Ohio coal-fields should find its way in quantity
into Mill Creek valley, and there is certainly no other
obvious source of supply.
The well from which these facts were obtained was
carried to a depth of five hundred and forty-one feet be-
low the surface. Analysis of the chips and borings
brought up and preserved reveal the character of the
strata underlying Ohio to a depth greater by about four
hundred feet than any other rocks exposed within the
limits of the State. The shales of the blue limestone
series appear to continue to a depth of four hundred
feet from the point of beginning.
Carburetted hydrogen gas escaped from the well in
considerable quantity from a depth of two hundred and
eighty feet downwards, but no large accumulations of
petroleum compounds were indicated.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
CHAPTER III.
THE ABORIGINAL AMERICAN.
Are they here —
The dead of other days? — and did the dust
Of these fair solitudes once stir witli life
And burn with passion? Let the mighty mounds
* That overlook the rivers, or that rise
In the dim forest crowded with old oaks,
Answer. A race that long has passed away,
Built them ; — a disciplined and populous race
Heaped, with long toil, the earth, while yet the Greek
Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms
Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock
The glittering Parthenon. These ample fields
Nourished their harvests; here their herds were fed.
When haply by their stalls the bison lowed
And bowed his maned shoulder to the yoke.
The red man came.
The roaming liunter-tribes, warlike and fierce.
And the Mound Builders vanished from the earth.
— W. C. Bryant, "The Prairies."
THE AMERICAN ABORIGINE.
The red men whom Columbus found upon this conti-
nent, and whom he mistakenly calls Indians, were not its
aborigines. The Western, not the Eastern hemisphere
is the Old World. Agassiz finely said:
First-born among the continents, though so much later in culture and
civilization than some of more recent birth, America, so far as her
physical history is concerned, has been falsely denominated the New
World. Hers was the first dry land lifted out of the waters, hers the
first shore washed by the ocean that enveloped all the earth beside; and
while Europe was represented onlv by islands rising here and there
above the sea, America already stretched an unbroken line from Nova
Scotia to the Far West.
Great, learned, and eloquent as was Agassiz, however,
his doctrine of the separate creation of the races of hu-
manity— that men must have originated in nations, as
the bees have originated in swarms, and as the different
social plants have covered the extensive tracts over which
they have naturally spread — has failed to obtain general
acceptance among the scientists. Later investigations
tend to return anthropology and ethnology to their an-
cient basis, upon the principle sounded forth by Paul in
the scholarly air of Mars Hill: "God hath made of one
blood all nations of men." America, old world as it is,
is not a cradle-land. Her native physiognomies, the
manners and customs of the races found by Europeans
upon her soil, their traditions, and something in their
architecture, point toward the historic regions of the
far east. The travellers who see Kalmuck Tartars upon
the Asiatic steppes, with almost the precise face and figure
of the American Indian, catch thus a hint of the far-away
past of emigration to and colonization of this continent.
Not only across the tract now occupied by Behring's
Straits, — very likely dry land in the period of exodus
from Asia, — but also across the Atlantic sea, storm-driven
or pushed by adventurous souls who never returned to tell
their tale, the wave of immigration may have come.
Quite certain it is now, the time of man's appearance
upon American soil dates long back among the ages pre-
vious to the advent of Christ. Before the Indians were,
as dwellers here; before the Mound Builders; before
Aztec and Nahuan and Mayan civilizations, was still, in
all probability, the pre-historic man of millenniums ago.
So long since, in the study of our antiquities, as 1839, ■
Dr. McGuire, in the Transactions of the Boston Society
of Natural History, brought forward evidence, from dis-
coveries recently made in the improvement of the High
Rock spring at Saratoga, to show the presence of human
beings there fifty-five hundred years before. The find
of a human bone near Natchez, in association with the
remains of the mastodon and the megalonyx; the human
skeleton dug from an excavation at New Orleans, at a
depth of sixteen feet, and beneath four successive buried
forests of cypress; the matting and pottery found on
Petit Anse Island, Louisiana, fifteen to twenty feet below
the surface, underneath the fossil bones of the elephant
and the mastodon; the mastodon found in his miry grave
on the bottom lands of the Bourbense river, in Missouri,
with every token about his remains that he had been
hunted and killed by savages there; the skeletons found
under some depth of soil and accumulations of bones
in caves at Louisville, Kentucky, and Elyria, Ohio ; — all,
with other facts developing from time to time, seem to
point a high antiquity for the aboriginal American. Col-
onel Whittlesey, of Cleveland, in his Evidences of the
Antiquity of Man in the United States, argues from the
find in the Elyria cave, that, "judging from the appear-
ance of the bones and the depth of accumulations over
them, two thousand years may have elapsed since the hu-
man skeletons were laid on the floor of this cave." The
arguments from other finds multiply this number to sev-
eral scores of centuries. In a later and very recent
pamphlet Colonel Whittlesey says:
Man may have existed in Ohio with the mastodon, elephant, rhinoc-
eros, musk ox, horse, beaver, and tapir of the drift period, as he did in
Europe; but to decide such a ciuestion the proof should be indisputable.
There is some reason to conclude that there were people on
this territory prior to tire builders of the mounds. Our cave shelters
have not been much explored, but as far as they have been examined
the relics lying at the bottom of the accumulations indicate a very rude
people. I anticipate that we shall find here, as in other countries, that
the most ancient race were the rudest and were cave-dwellers. I have
seen at Portsmouth, Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio river, fire-hearths
more ancient than the earthworks at that place. Whoever the people were
who made these fires, they must have had arrow-points, war-clubs, and
stone axes or mauls. But we have at this time no evidence to connect
such a primeval race with the human effigies scattered profusely through-
out Ohio. These effigies present no uniformity of type, and, therefore,
cannot represent race features. They approach nearer to the North Amer-
ican savage than any other people, but are so uncouth that they are of
little or no ethnological value. There was no school of art among either
the cave-dwellers, the builders of the mounds, or the more recent Nor-
thern Indians, which was capable of a correct representation of the
human face. These effigies must have been the result of the fancies of
idle hours, produced under no system and with no uniformity of pur-
pose. They thus have no meaning which the historian or antiquarian
can lay hold of to advance his knowledge of the pre-historic races.
THE PRIMITIVE OHIOAN.
We are thus brought to consider the peoples who, pos-
sibly later, but still anciently, dwelt in the valley of the
Ohio. They left no literature, no inscriptions as yet de-
cipherable, if any, no monuments e.xcept the long forest-
covered earth- and stone-works. No traditions of them,
by common consent of all the tribes, were left to the
North American Indian. As races, they have vanished
utterly in the darkness of the past. But the compara-
tively slight traces they have left tend to conclusions of
deep interest and importance, not only highly probable.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
but rapidly approaching certainty. • Correspondences in
the manufacture of pottery and in the rude sculptures
found, the common use of the serpent-symbol, the likeli-
hood that all were sun-worshippers and practiced the
horrid rite of human sacrifice, and the tokens of com-
mercial intercourse manifest by the presence of Mexican
porphyry and obsidian in the Ohio Valley mounds, to-
gether with certain statements of the Mexican annalists,
satisfactorily demonstrate, in the judgment of many anti-
quaries, the racial alliance, if not the identity, of our
Mound Builders with the ancient Mexicans, whose de-
scendants, with their remarkable civilization, were found
in the country when Cortes entered it in the second dec-
ade of the sixteenth century.
THE MAYAS.
It is not improbable that the first marks of Mayan civ-
ilization upon the continent are to be found among the
relics of the Mound Builders, particularly in the South-
ern States. The great Maya race, the first of which
Mexican story bears record, inhabited Yucatan and the
adjacent districts as early as looo B. C, when Nachan, the
"city of the serpents,." afterwards Palenque, the seat of re-
markable ruins to this day, was founded as their capital.
It is accounted to have been among the most civilized of
the American aboriginal nations. It possessed an alpha-
bet and so a literature, engaged in manufactures and
trade, cultivated the ground, sailed the waters, built great
temples and other edifices, and executed sculptures
which remain, the wonder of antiquaries, at Palenque,
Copan, Uxmal, and other ancient capitals and centers of
population. It was, undoubtedly, the oldest civilization
in the Western Hemisphere ; and so permanent was its
influence, and so numerous did the race enjoying it be-
come, that no less than fifteen languages or dialects of
Central America, north and south of the Tehauntepec
sthmus, are found related to the Mayan tongue. It was
already ancient and perhaps decaying when the Nahuas
pressed upon it from the northward, partially adopted it,
carried it on, and gave it fresh life and vigor.
The legends of the Maya people indicate an origin in
the Mediterranean countries of Europe or Asia. It is
supposed, accordingly, that their home here was upon the
Atlantic coast, and that thence they emigrated to Cuba,
and in due time into Yucatan and the region south of the
Tehauntepec isthmus, whence they spread in both direc-
tions, reaching finally as high as Vera Cruz at the north-
ward. Their story, as still found in the manuscripts, is
that their ancestors went into the country from the direc-
tion of Florida, which was long afterwards the general
name of the country traversed by De Soto (who gave the
name), from the present Florida coast to the Mississippi.
It seems quite within'the limits of probability, then, that
some of the more ancient of the remains in the east and
south of the United States, particularly the immense
shell-heaps on the Atlantic seaboard, found all the way
from Nova Scotia to the Floridian peninsula, along the
Gulf shores, and up the southern river valleys, were
left by the Mayas in their advance on the final home in
Central America. It is hardly probable, however, though
not at all impossible, that their habitations extended so
far north, on any line west of the Alleghanies, as the
Ohio valley.
THE NAHUAS — THE TOLTECS.
The conclusion is different, however, concerning the
race which, many ages after the settlement of the Mayas
at their ultimate destination, confronted them thS'e —
the Nahuas, notably that tribe or nation of them known
as the Toltecs — neighbored, probably, somewhere in the
valley of the Mississippi by the conquerors of the latter
in the eleventh century of our era. The Chichimecs are
believed to be racially, if not identically, the same with
our Mound Builders. The Mexican traditions name the
Olmecs as the first of Nahua blood to colonize the re-
gions north of the Tehuantepec isthmus, where they
overcame a race of giants, and found also the Miztecs
and Zapotecs, not of Nahua stock, who had built up, in
what is now the Mexican State of Oajaca, a civilization
rivaling the subsequent splendor of the Aztecs. The
Olmecs came in ships or barks from the east, as did their
relatives some time after, the Xicalancas. The former
tribe settled mainly in the present State of Pueblo, and
built the tower or pyramid of Cholula, as a memorial, tra-
dition says, of the tower of Babel, whose building the
progenitors of the Olmec chiefs witnessed. Other of the
Nahua tribes, as the Toltecs, possessed a tradition of
the deluge coming close to the Scriptural account. Both
of these look to the other side of the continent as afford-
ing the points of ingress for the later immigration, which
was doubtless originally from Asia, and many think was
of Jewish descent. Long before entering Mexico, how-
ever, as the story runs, the seven families of similar lan-
guage who were the ancestors of the Toltec nation, wan-
dered in many lands and across the seas, living in caves
and enduring many hardships, through a period of one
hundred and four years, when, five hundred and twenty
years after the flood, twenty centuries or more before the
Christian era, they arrived at and settled in "Hue hue
Tlapalan," which has been identified with reasonable
probability as the valley of the Mississippi. Here their
families grew and multiplied, extending their boundaries
far and wide, until about the middle of the sixth century
after Christ, when two families of the land revolted, but
unsuccessfully, and were driven out, with their numerous
followers, and took their way by devious wanderings to
Mexico. Here they fixed their capital at Tulancingo,
and eighteen years afterward more permanently at Tolean,
on the present site of the village of Tula, thirty miles
northwest of the city of Mexico.
The character and dates of subsequent Toltec or
Mound Builder immigrations, with slight exceptions, has
not even the dim light of Mexican tradition to reveal
them. The last irruption of the Nahuan tribes is fixed
at about iioo A. D. One of them, and the best known,
the famous Aztecs, did not reach Anahuac with their
unique and magnificent civilization until near the close
of the twelfth century. Previously, however (1062 A. D.),
the Toltec capital had been taken and its empire had
fallen by the hands of the martial Chichimecs, their for-
mer neighbors in the far north, who had followed them
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
23
to their new home, and upon a son of whom, three and
a half centuries before, as a peace offering, they had be-
stowed the throne of the Toltec monarchy. The Toltecs
now disappear from history, except as amalgamated with
their conquerors, and as founding, by many of its fugi-
tive noble families and in conjunction with Mayan ele-
ments, the Quiche-Cakchiqual monarchy in Guatemala,
which was flourishing with some grandeur and power so
late as the time of Cortes.
The migrations of the Toltecs from parts of the terri-
tory now covered by the United States, are believed to
have reached through about a thousand years. Apart
from the exile of the princes and their allies, and very
likely an exodus now and then compelled by their ene-
mies -and ultimate conquerors, the Chichimecs, who, as
we have seen, at last followed them to Mexico, the
Mound Builders were undoubtedly, in the course of the
ages, pressed upon, and finally the last of them — unless
the Natchez and Mandan tribes, as some suppose, are to
be considered connecting links between the Toltecs and
the American Indians — driven out by the red men. The
usual opening of the gateways in their works of defence,
looking to the east and northeastward, indicates the di-
rection from which these enemies were expected. They
were, not improbably, the terrible Iroquois and their
allies, the first really formidable Indians encountered by
the French discoverers and explorers in "New France" in
the seventeenth century. A silence as of the grave is
upon the history of their wars, doubtless long and
bloody, the savages meeting with skilled and determined
resistance, but their ferocious and repeated attacks, con.
tinned, mayhap, through several centuries, at last ex-
pelling the more civilized people —
"And the Mound Builders vanished from the eartli,"
unless, indeed, as the works of learned antiqua-
ries assume* and as is assumed above, they afterwards
appear in the Mexican story. Many of the remains of
the defensive works at the South and across the land to-
ward Mexico are of an unfinished type and pretty
plainly indicate that the retreat of the Mound Builders
was in that direction, and that it was hastened by the re-
newed onslaughts of their fierce pursuers or by the dis-
covery of a fair and distant land, to which they deter-
mined to emigrate in the hope of secure and untroubled
homes, t Professor Short, however, arguing from the
lesser age of trees found upon the. southern works, is
"led to think the Gulf coast may have been occupied bv
the Mound Builders for a conple of centuries after they
were driven by their enemies from the country north of'
the mouths of the Missouri and Ohio rivers." He be-
lieves two thousand years is time enough to allow for
their total occupation of the country north of the Gulf
* Wc have so far relied chiefly upon the very excellent and recent
work from the pen of Professor John T. Short, of the State university at
Columbus, Ohio, the latest and probably the best authority on "The
North Americans of Antiquity" yet in print. Harper & Brothers,
1880. Professor Short must not, however, be held responsible for all
the statements, inferences, and conclusions set out in the foregoing
paragraphs.
fSee, further. Judge M. F. Force's interesting paper on the Builders,
Cincinnati, rS72 and 1874.
of Mexico, "though after all it is but conjecture." He
adds: "It seems to us, however, that the time of aban-
doninent of their works may be more closely approxi-
mated. A thousand or two years may have elapsed
since they vacated the Ohio valley, and a period em-
bracing seven or eight centuries may have passed since
they retired from the Gulf coast." The date to which
the latter period carries us back, it will be observed, ap-
proximates somewhat closely to that fixed by the Mexi-
can annalists as the time of the last emigration of a
people of Nahua stock from the northward.
THE MOUND BUILDERS' EMPIRE.
Here we base upon firmer ground. The extent and
soinething of the character of this are known. They are
tangible and practical realities. We stand upon the
mounds, pace off the long lines of the enclosures, collect
and handle and muse upon the long-buried relics now in
our public and private museums. The domain of the
Mound Builders is well-nigh coterminous with that of the
Great Republic. Few States of the Union are wholly
without the ancient monuments. Singular to say, how-
ever, in view of the huge heaps and barrows of shells
left by the aboriginal man along the^tlantic shore, there
are no earth or stone mounds or enclosures of the older
construction on that coast. Says Professor Short :
No authentic remains of the Mound Builders are found in the New
England States, ... In the former we have an isolated
mound in the valley of the Kennebec, in Maine, and dim outlines of
enclosures near Sanborn and Concord, in New Hampshire; but there is
no certainty of their being the work of this"'people. ....
Mr. Squier pronounces them to be purely the work of Red Indians.
Colonel Whittlesey would assign these fort-like struc-
tures the enclosures of western New York, and common upon the
rivers discharging themselves into Lakes Erie and Ontario from the
south, differing from the more southern enclosures, in that they
were surrounded by trenches on their outside, while the latter uniformly
have the trench on the inside of the enclosure, to a people anterior to
the red Indian and perhaps contemporaneous with the Mound Builders,
but distinct from either. The more reasonable view is that of Dr. Fos-
ter, that they are the frontier works of the Mound Builders, adapted to
the purposes of defence against the sudden irruptions of hostile tribes.
It is probable that these defences belong to the last
period of the Mound Builders' residence on the lakes, and were erected
when the more warlike peoples of the north, who drove them from
their cities, first made their appearance.
The Builders quarried flint in many places, soapstone
in Rhode Island and North Carolina, and in the latter
State also the translucent mica found so widely dispersed
in their burial mounds in association with the bones of
the dead. They mined or made salt, and in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan they got out, with infinite labor,
the copper, which was doubtless their most useful and
valued metal. The Lower Peninsula of that State is
rich in ancient remains, particularly in mounds of sepul-
ture; and there are "garden beds" in the valleys of the
St. Joseph and the Kalamazoo, in southwestern Michi-
gan; but, "excepting ancient copper mines, no known
works extend as far north as Lake Superior anywhere in
the central region. Farther to the northwest, however,
the works of the same people are comparatively numer-
ous. Dr. Foster quotes a British Columbia newspaper,
without giving either name or date, as authority for the
discovery of a large number of mounds, seemingly the
24
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
works of the same people who built further east and
south. On the Butte prairies of Oregon, Wilkes and his
exploring expedition discovered thousands of similar
mounds." We condense further from Short ;
All the way up the Yellowstone region and on the upper tributaries
of the Missouri, mounds are found in profusion. . . . The
Missouri valley seems to have been one of the most populous branehes
of the widespread Mound Builder country. The valleys of its affluents,
the Platte and Kansas rivers, also furnish evidence that these streams
served as the channels into which flowed a part of the tide of popula-
tion which either descended or ascended the Missouri. The Mississippi
and Ohio River valleys, however, formed the great central arteries of the
Mound Builder domain. In Wisconsin we find the northern central
limit of their works: occasionally on the western shores of Lake Michi-
gan, but in great numbers in the southern counties of the State, and es-
pecially on the lower Wisconsin river.
The remarkable similarity of one group of works, on a
branch of Rock river in the south of this State, to some
of the Mexican antiquities led to the christening of the
adjacent village as Aztalan — which (or Aztlan), meaning
whiteness, was a name of the "inost attractive land"
somewhere north of Mexico and the sometime home of the
Aztec and other Nahua nations. If rightly conjectured
as the Mississippi valley, or some part of it, that country
may well have included the site of the modern Aztalan.
Across the Mississippi, in Minnesota and Iowa, the predominant type
of circular tumuli prevails, extending throughout the latter State to
Missouri. There are evidences that the Upper Missouri region was
connected with that of the Upper Mississippi by settlements occupying
the intervening country. Mounds are found even in the valley of the
Red river of the north. . . . Descending to tlie interior,
we find the heart of the Mound Builder country in Illinois, Indiana,
and Ohio, It is uncertain A\hether its \'ital center was in southern Illi-
nois or Ohio — probably the former, because of its geographical situa-
tion with reference to the mouths of the Missouri and Ohio rivers.
The site of St. Louis was formerly covered with
mounds, one of which was thirty-five feet high, while in the American
Bottom, on the Illinois side of the river, their number approximates two
hundred.
It is pretty well known, we believe, that St. Louis takes
its fanciful title of "Mound City" from the former fact.
The multitude of mound works which are scattered over the entire
northeastern portion of Missouri indicate that the region was once in-
habited by a population so numerous that in comparison its present
occupants are only as the scattered pioneers of a new-settled coun-
try. . . . The same sagacity which chose the neighbor-
hood of St. Louis for these works, covered the site of Cincinnati with
an extensive system of circumvallations and mounds. Almost the en-
tire space now occupied by the city was utilized by the mysterious
Builders in the construction of embankments and tumuli, built upon
the most accurate geometrical principles, and evincing keen military
foresight. . . . The vast number as well as magnitude of
the works found in the .State of Ohio, have surprised the most care-
less and indifferent observers. It is estimated by the most conservati\'e,
and Messrs. Squier and Davis among them, that the number of tumuli
in Ohio equals ten thousand, and the number of enclosures one thou-
sand or one thousand five hundred. In Ross county alone one hun-
dred enclosures and upwards of five hundred mounds have been exam-
ined. The Alleghany mountains, the natural limit of the great
Mississippi basin, appear to have served as the eastern and southeast-
ern boundary of the Mound Builder country. In \vestern New York,
western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and in all of Kentucky and Ten-
nessee, their remains are numerous and in some instances imposing. In
Tennessee, especially, the works of the Mound Builders are of the most
interesting character. . . . Colonies of Mound Builders
seem to have passed the great natural barrier into North Carolina and
left remains in Marion county, while still others penetrated into South
Carolina, and built on the Wateree river.
Mounds in Mississippi also have been examined, with
interestinsj; results.
On the southern Mississippi, in the area embraced between the ter-
mination of the Cumberland mountains, near Florence and Tuscumbia,
in Alabama, and the mouth of Big Black river, this people left numer-
ous works, inany of which were of a remarkable character. The whole
region bordering on the tributaries of the Tombigbee, the country
through which the Wolf river flows, and that watered by the Yazoo
river and its affluents, was densely populated by the same people who
built mounds in the Ohio valley. . . . The State of Louis-
iana and the valleys of the Arkansas and Red rivers were not only the
most thickly populated wing of the Mound Builder domain, but also
furnish us with remains presenting affinities with the great works of
Mexico so striking that no doubt can longer exist that the same people
were the architects of both. . . . It is needless to discuss
the fact that the works of the Mound Builders exist in considerable
numbers in Texas, extending across the Rio Grande into Mexico, es-
tablishing an unmistakable relationship as well as actual imion between
the truncated pyramids of the Mississippi valley and the Tocalli of
Mexico, and the countries further south.
Such, in a general way, was the geographical dis-
tribution of the Mound Builders within and near the ter-
ritory now occupied by the United States.
THE WORKS.
They are — such of them as are left to our day — gener-
ally of earth, occasionally of stone, and more rarely of
earth and stone intermixed. Dried bricks, in some ins-
tances, are found in the walls and angles of the best
pyramids of the Lower Mississippi valley. Often, especi-
ally for the works devoted to religious purposes, the earth
has not been taken from the surrounding soil, but has
been transported from a distance, probably from some
locality regarded as sacred. They are further divided
into enclosures and mounds or tumuli. The classifica-
tion of these by Squier & Davis, in their great work on
"The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,"
published by the Smithsonian Institution thirty-two years
ago, has not yet been superseded. It is as follows:
I. Enclosures — For Defence, Sacred, Miscellaneous.
11. Mounds — Of Sacrifice, or Temple-Sites, of Sep-
ulture, of Observation.
To these may properly be added the Animal or Efifigy
(emblematic or symbolical) Mounds, and some would
add Mounds for Residence. The Garden-Beds, if true
remains of the Builders, may also be considered a sepa-
rate class; likewise mines and roads, and there is some
reason to believe that canals may be added.
In the treatment of these classes, briefly, we shall fol-
low in places the chapter on this subject in our History
of Franklin and Pickaway counties, Ohio.
I. Enclosures for Defence. A large and interest-
ing class of the works is of such a nature that the object
for which they were thrown up is unmistakable. The
"forts," as they are popularly called, are found through-
out the length and breadth of the Mississippi valley,
from the AUeghanies to the Rocky mountains. The
rivers of this vast basin have worn their valleys deep in
the original plain, leaving broad terraces leading like
gigantic steps up to the general level of the country.
The sides of the terraces are often steep and difficult of
access, and sometimes quite inaccessible. Such locations
would naturally be selected as the site of defensive works,
and there, as a matter of fact, the strong and complica-
ted embankments of the Mound Builders are found.
The points have evidently been chosen with great care,
and are such as would, in most cases, be approved by
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
25
modern military engineers. They are usually on the
higher ground, and are seldom commanded from posi-
tions sufficiently near to make them untenable through
the use of the short-range weapons of the Builders, and,
while rugged and steep on some of their sides, have
one or more points of easy approach, in the protection of
which great skill and labor seem to have been expended.
They are never found, nor, in general, any other remains
of the Builders, upon the lowest or latest-formed river
terraces or bottoms. They are of irregular shape, con-
forming to the nature of the ground, and are often
strengthened by extensive ditches. The usual defence is
a simple embankment thrown up along and a little below
the brow of the hill, varying in height and thickness ac-
cording to the defensive advantage given by the natural
declivity. "The walls generally wind around the borders
of the elevations they occupy, and when the nature of
the ground renders some points more accessible than
others, the height of the wall and the depth of the ditch
at those weak points are proportionally increased. The
gateways are narrow and few in number, and well
guarded by embankments of earth placed a few yards in-
side of the openings or gateways and parallel with them,
and projecting somewhat beyond them at each end, thus
fully covering the entrances, which, in some cases, are
still further protected by projecting walls on either side
of them. These works are somewhat numerous, and in-
dicate a clear appreciation of the elements, at least, of
fortification, and unmistakably point out the purpose for
which they were constructed. A large number of these
defensive works consist of a line of ditch and embank-
ments, or several lines carried across the neck of penin-
sulas or bluff headlands, formed within the bends of
streams — an easy and obvious mode of fortification, com-
mon to all rude peoples."* Upon the side where a pe-
ninsula or promontory merges into the mainland of the
terrace or plateau, the enclosure is usually guarded by
double or overlapping walls, or a series of them, having
sometimes an accompanying mound, probably designed,
like many of the mounds apart from the enclosures, as a
lookout station, corresponding in this respect to the bar-
bican of our British ancestors in the Middle Ages. As
natural strongholds the positions they occupy could
hardly be excelled, and the labor and skill expended to
strengthen them artificially rarely fail to awake the admi-
ration and surprise the student of our antiquities. Some
of the works are enclosed by miles of embankment still
ten to fifteen feet high, as measured from the bottom of
the ditch. In some cases the number of openings in the
walls is so large as to lead to the conclusion that certain
of them were not used as gateways, but were occupied by
bastions or block-houses long ago decayed. This is a
marked peculiarity of the great work known as "Fort
Ancient," on the Little Miami river and railroad, in War-
ren county. Some of the forts have very large or smaller
"dug-holes" inside, seemingly designed as reservoirs for
use in a state of siege. Occasionally parallel earth-walls,
of lower height than the embankments of the main work,
* American Cyclopcedia, article "American Antiquities."
called "covered ways," are found adjacent to enclosures,
and at times connecting separate works, and seeming to
be intended for the protection of those passing to and
fro within them. These are considered by some antiqua-
ries, however, as belonging to the sacred enclosures.
This class of works abound in Ohio. Squier and
Davis express the opinion that "there seems to have
been a system of defences extending from the sources of
the Susquehanna and Alleghany, in western New York,
diagonally across the country through central and north-
ern Ohio to the Wabash. Within this range the works
that are regarded as defensive are largest and most nu-
merous." The most notable, however, of the works
usually assigned to this class in this State is in southern
Ohio, and not very far from the boundaries of Hamilton
county, being only forty-two miles northeast of Cincin-
nati. It is the "Fort Ancient" already mentioned. This
is situated upon a terrace on the left bank of the river,
two hundred and thirty feet above the Little Miami, and
occupies a peninsula defended by two ravines, while the
river itself, with a high, precipitous bank, defends the
western side. The walls are between four and five miles
long, and ten to twenty feet high, according to the natural
strength of the line to be protected. A resemblance has
been traced in the walls of the lower enclosure "to the
form of two massive serpents, which are apparently con-
tending with one another. Their heads are the mounds,
which are separated from the bodies by the opening,
which resembles a ring around the neck. They bend in
and out, and rise and fall, and appear like two massive
green serpents rolling along the summit of this high hill.
Their appearance under the overhanging forest trees is
very impressive."* Others have found a resemblance in
the form of the whole work to a rude outline of the con-
tinent of North and South America.
Another fortified eminence, enclosing sixteen and three-
tenths acres, is found in the present Butler county, once
within the old county of Hamilton. The entrance to
this enclosure is guarded by a complicated system of
covered ways. Another, and a very remarkable work, as
having walls of stone, constructed in their place at the
top of a steep and lofty hill with infinite toil and difficulty,
is near the village of Bourneville, Ross county, on Spruce
hill, a height commanding the beautiful valley of Paint
creek. The wall is two and a quarter miles long, and
encloses one hundred and forty acres, in the center of
which was an artificial lake. Many enclosures of the
kind have been surveyed and described in other counties
of the State.
II. Sacred Enclosures. — Regularity of form is the
characteristic of these. They are not, however, of inva-
riable shape, but are found in various geometrical figures,
as circles, squares, hexagons, octagons, ellipses, parallelo-
grams, and others, either singly or in combination. How-
ever large, they were laid out with astounding accuracy,
and show that the Builders had some scientific knowl-
edge, a scale of measurement, and the means of com-
puting areas and determining angles. They are often in
'Rev. S, D. Peet, in the American Antiquarian for April, 1878.
26
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
groups, but also often isolated. Most of them are of
small size, two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet
in diameter, with one gateway usually opening to the east,
as if for the worship of the sun, and the ditch invariably
on the inside. These are frequently inside enclosures of
a different character, particularly military works. A sac-
rificial mound was commonly erected in the center of
them. The larger circles are oftenest found in connec-
tion with squares; some of them embrace as many as fifty
acres. They seldom have a ditch, but when they do, it
is inside the wall. .The rectangular works with which
they are combined are believed never to have a ditch.
In this State a combined work of a square with two
circles is often found, usually agreeing in this remarkable
fact, that each side of the rectangle measures exactly one
thousand and eighty feet, and the circles respectively are
seventeen hundred and eight hundred feet in diameter.
The frequency and wide prevalence of this uniformity
demonstrate that it could not have been accidental. The
square enclosures almost invariably have eight gateways
at the angles and midway between, upon each side, all
of which are covered or defended by small mounds.
The parallels before mentioned are sometimes found in
connection with this class of works. From the Hope-
town work, near Chillicothe, a "covered way" led to the
Scioto river, many hundred feet distant.
More of the enclosures left by the Mound Builders are
believed to belong to this class than to the class of de-
fensive works. They especially abound in Ohio. The
finest ancient works in the State— those near Newark,
Licking county-^are undoubtedly of this kind. They are
rather were — twelve miles in total length of wall, and
enclose a tract of two miles square. The system of em-
bankment is intricate as well as extensive, and encloses a
number of singular mounds — one of them in the shape of
an enormous bird track, the middle toe one hundred and
fifty-five feet, and each of the other toes one hundred and
ten feet in length. A superb work, representing the combi-
nation of a square with two circles, of the dimensions pre-
viously stated, exists in Liberty township, Ross county, a
few miles from Chillicothe. A work in Pike county con-
sists of a circle enclosing a square, each of the four cor-
ners of which touches the circle, the gateway of the circle
being opposite the opening in the square. Several com-
binations of the square and the circle appear in the Hope-
town works, four miles north of Chillicothe. Circleville
derives its name from the principal ancient work — a cir-
cle and a square — which formerly stood upon its site.
Many other remains of the kind are familiarly known in
Ross and Pike, Franklin, Athens, Licking, Montgomery,
Butler, and other counties.
III. Miscellaneous Enclosures. — The difficulty of
referring many of the smaller circular works, thirty to
fifty feet in diameter, found in close proximity to large
works, to previous classes, has prompted the suggestion that
they were the foundations of lodges or habitations of chiefs,
priests, or other prominent personages among the Build-
ers. In one case within the writer's observation, a rough
stone foundation about four rods square was found iso-
lated from any other work, near the Scioto river, in the
south part of Ross county. At the other extreme of size,
the largest and most complex of the works, as those at
Newark, are thought to have served, in part at least, other
than religious purposes — that they may, besides furnishing
spaces for sacrifice and worship, have included also arenas
for games and marriage celebrations and other festivals,
the places of general assembly for the tribe or village,
the encampment or more permanent residences of the
priesthood and chiefs. Mr. Isaac Smucker, a learned
antiquary of Newark, to whom we are indebted for im-
portant facts presented in this chapter, says :
Some archseologists maintain that many works called Sacred Enclo-
sures were erected for and used as places of amusement, where our
predecessors of pre-historic times practiced their national games and
celebrated their great national events ; where they held their national
festivals and indulged in their national jubilees, as well as performed
the ceremonials of their religion. And it may be that those (and there
are many such) within which no central elevation or altar occurs, were
erected for the purposes last named, and not exclusively (if at all) for
purposes connected with their religion, and are therefore erroneously
called Sacred Enclosures. Other ancient peoples, if indeed not all the
nations of antiquity, have had their national games, amusements, fes-
tivals, and jubilees ; and why not the Mound Builders, too? Notably
in this regard the ancient Greeks may be named, with whom, during
the period known as the "lyrical age of Greece," the Olympic, the
Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian games became national festi-
vals. And without doubt the Mound Builders, too, had their national
games, amusements, festivals, and jubilees, and congregated within
their enclosures to practice, celebrate, and enjoy them.
IV. Mounds of Sacrifice. — These have several dis-
tinct characteristics. In height they seldom exceed eight
feet. They occur only within or near the enclosures,
commonly considered as the sacred places of the Build-
ers, and are usually stratified in convex layers of clay or
loam alternating above a layer of fine sand. Beneath
the strata, and upon the original surface of the earth at
the center of the mound, are usually symmetricaly formed
altars of stone or burnt clay, evidently brought from a
distance. Upon them are found various remains, all of
which exhibit signs of the action of fire, and some which
have excited the suspicion that the Builders practiced the
horrid rite of human sacrifice. Not only calcined bones,
but naturally ashes, charcoal, and igneous stones are found
with them; also beads, stone implements, simple sculp-
tures, and pottery. The remains are often in such a con-
dition as to indicate that the altars had been covered
before the fires upon them were fully extinguished. Skele-
tons are occasionally found in this class of mounds;
though these may have been " intrusive burials" made
after the construction of the works and contrary to their
original intention. Though symmetrical, the altars are
by no means uniform in shape or size. Some are round,
some elliptical, others square or parallelograms. In size
they vary from two to fifty feet in length, and are of pro-
portional width and height, the commoner dimensions be-
ing five to eight feet.
V. Temple Mounds are not so numerous. In this
State it is believed they were only at Marietta, Newark,
Portsmouth, and about Chillicothe. They are generally
larger than the altar and burial mounds, and are more
frequently circular or oval, though sometimes found in
other shapes. The commonest shape is that of a trun-
cated cone; and, in whatever form a mound of this class
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
27
may be, it always has a flattened or level top, giving it an
unfinished look. Some are called platforms, from their
large area and slight elevation. They are, indeed, almost
always of large base and comparatively small height.
Often, as might reasonably be expected, they are within
a sacred enclosure, and some are terraced or have spiral
ascents or graded inclines to their summits. They take
their name from the probable fact that upon their flat tops
were reared structures of wood, the temples or " high
places" of this people, which decayed and disappeared
ages ago. In many cases in the northern States these
must have been small, from the smallness of their sites
upon the mounds; but as they are followed southward
they are seen, as might be expected, to increase gradual-
ly and approximate more closely to perfect construction,
until they end in the great teocallis ("houses of God").
One remarkable platform of this kind in Whitley county,
Kentucky, is three hundred and sixty feet long by one
hundred and fifty wide and twelve high, with graded as-
cents; and another, at Hopkinsville, is so large that the
county court house is built upon it. The great mound
at Cahokia, Missouri, is of this class. Its truncated top
measured two hundred by four hundred and fifty-two feet.
VI. Burial Mounds furnish by far the most numer-
ous class of tumuli. The largest mounds in the coun-
try are generally of this kind. The greatest of all, the
famous mound at Grave creek, Virginia, is seventy-five
feet high, and has a circumference at the base of about
one thousand. In solid contents it is nearly equal to
the third pyramid of Mykerinus, in Egypt. The huge
mound on the banks of the Great Miami, twelve miles
below Dayton, has a hight of sixty-eight feet. Many of
the burial mounds are six feet or less in height, but the
average height as deduced from wide observation of them,
is stated as about twenty feet. They are usually of con-
ical form. It is conjectured that the size of these mounds
has an immediate relation to the former importance of
the personage or family buried in them. Only three
skeletons have so far been found in the mighty Grave
Creek mound. Except in rare cases, they contain but one
skeleton, unless by "intrusive" or later burial, as by In-
dians, who frequently used the ancient mounds for pur-
poses of sepulture. One Ohio mound, however — that
opened by Professor Marsh, of Yale college, in Licking
county — contained seventeen skeletons; and another, in
Hardin county, included three hundred. But these are
exceptional instances. Calcined human bones in some
burial mounds at the North with charcoal and ashes in
close proximity, show that cremation was occasionally
practiced, or that fire was used in the funeral ceremonies;
and "urn burial" prevailed considerably in the southren
States. At times a rude chamber or cist of stone or tim-
ber contained the remains. In the latter case the more
fragile material has generally disappeared, but casts of it
in the earth are still observable. The stone cists furnish
some of the most interesting relics found in the mounds.
They are, in rare cases, very large, and contain several
bodies, with various relics. They are like large stone
boxes, made of several flat stones, joined without cement
or fastening. Similar, but much smaller, are the stone
coffins found in large number in Illinois and near Nash-
ville, Tennessee. They are generally occupied by single
bodies. In other cases, as in recent discoveries near
Portsmouth and elsewhere in Ohio, the slabs are arranged
slanting upon each other in the shape of a triangle, and
having, of course, a triangular vault in the interior. In
Ihe Cumberland mountains heaps of loose stones are
found over skeletons, but these stone mounds are proba-
bly of Indian origin, and so comparatively modern. Im-
plements, weapons, ornaments, and various remains of
art, as in the later Indian custom, were buried with the
dead. Mica is often found with the skeletons, with pre-
cisely what meaning is not yet ascertained; also pottery,
beads of bone, copper, and even glass — indicating, some
think, commercial intercourse with Europe — and other
articles in great variety, are present.
Tiiere is also, probably, a sub-class of mounds that
may be mentioned in this connection — the Memorial or
Monumental mounds, thrown up, it is conjectured, to
perpetuate the celebrity of some important event or in
honor of some eminent personage. They are usually of
earth, but occasionally, in this State at least, of stone.
VII. Signal Mounds, or Mounds of Observation.
This is a numerous and very interesting and important
class of the works. Colonel Anderson, of Circleville,
thinks he has demonstrated by actual survey, made at his
own expense, the existence of a regular chain or system
of these lookouts through the Scioto valley, from which,
by signal fires, intelligence might be rapidly flashed over
long distances. About twenty such mounds occur be-
tween Columbus and Chillicothe, on the eastern side of
the Scioto. In Hamilton county a chain of mounds,
doubtless devoted to such purpose, can be traced from
the primitive site of Cincinnati to the "old fort," near
the mouth of the Great Miami. Along both the Miamis
numbers of small mounds on the projecting headlands
and on heights in the interior are indubitably signal
mounds.
Judge Force says: "By the mound at Norwood signals
could be passed from the valley of Mill creek to the
Little Miami valley, near Newtown, and I believe to the
valley of the Great Miami near Hamilton."
Like the defensive works already described as part of
the military system of the Builders, the positions of these
works were chosen with excellent judgment. They vary
in size, according to the height of the natural eminences
upon which they are placed. Many still bear the marks
of intense heat upon their summits, results of the long-
extinct beacon fires. Sometimes they are found in con-
nection with the embankments and enclosures, as an en-
larged and elevated part of the walls. One of these, near
Newark, though considerably reduced, retains a height
of twenty-five feet. The huge mound at Miamisburgh,
mentioned as a burial mound, very likely was used also
as a part of the chain of signal mounds from above Day-
ton to the Cincinnati plain and the Kentucky bluff
beyond.
VIII. Effigy or Animal Mounds appear principally
in Wisconsin, on the level surface of the prairie. They
are of very low height — one to six feet — but are other-
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
wise often very large, extended figures of men, beasts,
birds, or reptiles, and in a very few cases of inanimate
things. In this State there are three enormous, remark-
able earthwork effigies — the "Eagle mound" in the cen-
ter of a thirty-acre enclosure near Newark, and supposed
to represent an eagle on the wing; the "Alligator mound,"
also in Licking county, two hundred and five feet long;
and the famous "Great Serpent," on Brush creek, in
Adams county, which has a length of seven hundred feet,
the tail in a triple coil, with a large mound, supposed to
represent an egg, between the jaws of the figure. By
some writers these mounds are held to be symbolical,
and connected with the religion of the Builders. Mr.
Schoolcraft, however, calls them "emblematic," and says
they represent the totems or heraldic symbols of the
Builder tribes.
IX. Garden Beds. — In Wisconsin, in Missouri, and
in parts of Michigan, and to some extent elsewhere, is
found a class of simple works presumed to be ancient.
They are merely ridges or beds left by the cultivation of
the soil, about six inches high and four feet wide, regu-
larly arranged in parallel rows, at times rectangular, other-
wise of various but regular and symmetrical curves, and
in fields of ten to a hundred acres. Where they occur
near the animal mounds, they are in some cases carried
across the latter, which would seem to indicate, if the
■ same people executed both works, that no sacred charac-
ter attached to the effigies.
X. Mines. — These, as worked by the Builders, have
not yet been found in many different regions; but in the
Lake Superior copper region their works of this kind are
numerous and extensive. In the Ontonagon country
their mining traces abound for thirty miles. Colonel
Whittlesey estimates that they removed metal from this
region equivalent to a length of one hundred and fifty
feet in veins of varying thickness. Some of their opera-
tions approached the stupendous. No other remains of
theirs are found in the Upper Peninsula; and there is no
probability that they occupied the region for other than
temporary purposes.
THE CONTENTS OF THE MOUNDS.
Besides the human remains which have received
sufficient treatment for this article under the head of
Burial mounds, and the altars noticed under Mounds of
Sacrifice, the contents of the work of the Mound Builders
are mostly small, and many of them unimportant. They
have been classified by Dr. Rau, the archteologist of the
Smithsonian Institution, according to the material of
which they are wrought, as follows:
I. Stone. — This is the most numerous class of relics
They were fashioned by chipping, grinding, or polishing"
and include rude pieces, flakes, and cores, as well as fin.
ished and more or less nearly finished articles. In the
first list are arrow and spear-heads, perforators, scrapers,
cutting and sawing tools, dagger-shaped implements,
large implements supposed to have been used in digging
the ground, and wedge or celt-shaped tools and weapons.
The ground and polished specimens, more defined in
form, comprise wedges or celts, chisels, gouges, adzes
and grooved axes, hammers, drilled ceremonial weapons,
cutting tools, scraper and spade-like implements, pen-
dants and sinkers, discoidal stones and kindred objects,
pierced tablets and boat-shaped articles, stones used in
grinding and polishing, vessels, mortars, pestles, tubes,
pipes, ornaments, sculptures, and engraved stones or tab-
lets. Fragmentary plates of mica or isinglass may be
included under this head.
2. Copper. — These are either weapons and tools or
ornaments, produced, it would seem, by hammering
pieces of native copper into the required shape.
3. Bone and Horn. — Perforators, harpoon-heads, fish-
hooks, cups, whistles, drilled teeth, etc.
4. Shell. — Either utensils and tools, as drinking-cups,
spoons, fish-hooks, celts, etc., or ornaments, comprising
various kinds of gorgets, pendants, and beads.
5. Ceramic Fabrics. — Pottery, pipes, human and ani-
mal figures, and vessels in great variety.
6. Wood. — The objects of early date formed of this
material are now very few, owing to its perishable char-
acter.
To these may be added :
7. Gold and Silver. — In a recent find in a stonecist
at Warrensburgh, Missouri, a pottery vase or jar was
found, which had a silver as well as a copper band about
it. Other instances of the kind are on record, and a
gold ornament in the shape of a woodpecker's head has
been taken from a mound in Florida.
8. Textile Fabrics. — A few fragments of coarse
cloth or matting have survived the destroying tooth of
time, and some specimens, so far as the texture is con-
cerned, have been very well preserved by the salts of
copper, when used to enwrap articles shaped from that
metal.
the mound builders' civilization.
This theme has furnished a vast field for speculation,
and the theorists have pushed into a wilderness of vis-
ionary conjectures. Some inferences, however, may be
regarded as tolerably certain. The number and magni-
tude of their works, and their extensive range and uni-
formity, says the American Cyclopaedia, prove that the
Mound Builders were essentially homogeneous in cus-
toms, habits, religion, and government. The general
features common to all their remains identify them as
appertaining to a single grand system, owing its origin to
men moving in the same direction, acting under com-
mon impulses, and influenced by similar causes. Pro-
fessor Short, in his invaluable work, thinks that, however
writers may differ, these conclusions may be safely ac-
cepted: That they came into the country in compara-
tively small numbers at first (if they were not Autoch-
thones, and there is no substantial proof that the Mound
Builders were such), and, during their residence in the
territory occupied by the United States, they became
extremely populous. Their settlements were widespread,
as the extent of their remains indicates. The magnitude
of their works, some of which approximate the propor-
tions of Egyptian pyramids, testify to the architectural
talent of the people and the fact that they developed a
system of government controlling the labor of multitudes.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO,
29
whether of subjects or slaves. They were an agricultural
people, as the extensive ancient garden-beds found in
Wisconsin and Missouri indicate. Their manufactures
offer proof that they had attained a respectable de-
gree of advancement and show that they understood the
advantages of the division of labor. Their domestic
utensils, the cloth of which they made their clothing, and
the artistic vessels met with everywhere in the mounds,
point to the development of home culture and domestic
industry. There is no reason for believing that the peo-
ple who wrought stone and clay into perfect effigies of
animals have not left us sculptures of their own faces in
the images exhumed from the mounds. They mined cop-
per, which they wrought into implements of war, into or-
naments and articles for domestic use. They quarried
mica for mirrors and other purposes. They furthermore
worked flint and salt mines. They probably possessed
some astronomical knowledge, though to what extent is
unknown. Their trade, as Dr. Rau has shown, was
widespread, extending probably from Lake Superior to
the Gulf, and possibly to Mexico. They constructed
canals, by which lake systems were united, a fact
which Mr. Conant has recently shown to be well es-
tablished in Missouri. Their defences were numer-
ous and constructed with reference to strategic prin-
ciples, while their system of signals placed on lofty
their settlements, and communicating with the great
water courses at immense summits, visible from dis-
tances, rivaled the signal systems in use at the begin-
ning of the present century. Their religion seems to
have been attended with the same ceremonies in all
parts of their domain. That its rites were celebrated
with great demonstrations is certain. The sun and moon
were probably the all-important deities to which sacri-
fices (possibly human) were offered. We have already
alluded to the development in architecture and art which
marked the possible transition of this people from north
to south. Here we see but the rude beginnings of a
civilization which no doubt subsequently unfolded in its
fuller glory in the valley of Anahuac and, spreading
southward, engrafted new life upon the wreck of Xibalba.
Though there is no evidence that the Mound Builders
were indigenous, we must admit that their civilization
was putely such, the natural product of climate and the
condition surrounding them.*
THE BUILDERS IN HAMILTON COUNTY.
Very brief notice of them will be made here, anything
like detailed description being reserved for the special
histories to come later in this work. Reference has been
made above to the extensive signal system in the Miami
country, and to numerous works upon the present site of
Cincinnati. Elsewhere in the county the Builders have
left frequent remains. They abound in Columbia, An-
derson, and Spencer townships, and are found all along
the Little Miami valley from below Newtown to points
above Milford. On the other side of the county, in the
valley of the Great Miami, they are found numerously at
the mouth of the stream, about Cleves, and for miles
* The Americans of Antiquity, pp. 96-100.
along the banks above and below Colerain. Near this
place, about one mile south of the county Hne, is the cel-
ebrated enclosure known as "the Colerain works," sur-
rounding a tract of about ninety-five acres. Judge Force
thinks there was a strong line of fortifications along the
Great Miami, from the mouth to Piqua, with advanced
works near Oxford and Eaton, and with a massive work
in rear of this line, at Fort Ancient. In the interior of
Hamilton they apiiear at Norwood, Sharon, in Springfield
township, and elsewhere to some extent. This region
was undoubtedly one of the densest centers of popula-
tion. We shall view some of their works more closely
before this volume is closed.
CHAPTER IV.
THE OHIO INDIANS.
' ' Tlien a darker, drearier vision
Passed before me, vague and cloudlilie;
I beheld our nations scattered.
All forgetful of my counsels.
Weakened, warring with each other;
Saw the remnants of our people
Sweeping westward, wild and woful,
Like the cloud-rack of a tem^^est.
Like the withered leaves of autumn. "
H. W. Longfellow, "Hiawatha."
After the Mound Builder came the red man. For un-
told centuries his history is a blank. Whence he came,
how he spread over the continent, what his earlier num-
bers, supplies material for the philosophic historian.
The literature of past ages is silent concerning these
things; the voice of tradition is almost equally reticent.
It seems quite certain, however, notwithstanding some
speculations to the contrary, that no other race inter-
vened between the mysterious people of the mounds and
the savages whom Columbus and other discoverers found
upon our soil. By the red men — fewer in numbers,
doubtless, but fiercer, braver, and more persistent than
their antagonists — the Builders were driven out and
pushed to the southwest, hosts of warriors on both sides
perishing in the protracted struggle. As Halleck says:
"What tales, if there be tongues in trees.
These giant oaks could tell
Of beings born and buried here!"
The new race was vastly inferior to the older. It was
more a nomadic people. Villages and other permanent
habitations seldom contained, through the course of
many generations, the same tribes. They were not
given, except to a very limited extent, to the tillage of
the soil. War and the chase were their chief occupa-
tions, and the products of the latter, with spontaneous
yields from the forest and stream, furnished the simple
necessaries of their lives. Change for the worse as it
was, apparently, in the population of this part of North
America, it was doubtless in the order of Divine Provi-
dence, that the land-might, by and by, be the more easily
and advantageously occupied by the white man, who
3°
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
would come to fill it again with busy life and to dot its
surface with the monuments of a civilization to which
the wildest dreams of his predecessors never reached.
THE IROQUOIS AND THE ERIES.
(,. The light of history begins to dawn upon the Indians
of Ohio during the latter part of the seventeenth cen-
tury. As early as 1609 the explorer, Champlain, made
mention of the Iroquois, who then dwelt about the
eastern end of Lake Ontario. In 1683 La Hontan
names thgm again and says' they are "in five cantons,
not unlike those of the Swisses. Though these cantons
are all one nation, and united in one joint interest, yet
they go by different names, viz. : The Sonontouans [Sen-
ecas], the Goyagoans [Cayugas], the Onnatagues [Onon-
dagas], the Ononyonts [Oneidas], and the Aguies [Mo-
hawks]." The Five afterwards became the famous "Six
Nations," and are sometimes mentioned as seven. These
formed one of the three great divisions of the Indian
tribes east of the Mississippi — the Huron-Iroquois, the
Algonquins, and Mobilians, dwelling respectively, it may
be stated in a general way, on the great lakes, the Ohio
river, and the Gulf of Mexico. The second of these
families, though perhaps not the most powerful in war,
the first seemingly holding the supremacy, was by far the
most numerous and widespread. Their habitat is de-
scribed as "originally reaching from Lake Superior to the
mouth of the St. Lawrence, and from the west of Maine to
Pamlico sound along the Atlantic coast, and from the Ro-
anoke river to the headwaters of the Ohio and westward
to the mouth of the river, and from that point, including
all south and west of Lake Erie, to Lake Superior again,
leaving the Iroquois on Lake Ontario like an island in
the midst of a great sea."* To this stock belonged most
of the Ohio tribes ; but to their neighbors, east and
west, the Iroquois and the Hurons, were allied in blood
the ill-fated Filians, or Fries, the first of all western tribes
to be observed and mentioned by the French explorers.
They are first designated by the former name on Cham-
plain's map, published in 1680; are again so named on
the map of Richard Blome three years later; and so gen-
erally on the old maps until 1735. Long before this,
however, they are supposed to have been driven out, ex-
terminated, or amalgamated with other tribes. Blome, in
1683, places the "Senneks," or Senecas, one of the Five
Nations of the Iroqouis, among the Fries on the south
of the lake to which the latter gave the name; and that
probably is the tribe into which the Fries ultimately
merged. Charlevoix, in 1744, puts their later tribal
designation upon his map near the east end of Lake
Frie (they had been located upon a map of 1703 near
the west end), but adds the remark: "The Fries were
destroyed by the Iroquois about one hundred years ago."
Also, upon a map prepared by John Hutchins and pub-
lished in 175s, where the tribe is assigned a former terri-
tory stretching along the whole south shore of Lake Erie,
this note appears: "The antient Fries were extirpated
upwards of one hundred years ago by the Iroquois, ever
since which time they [the Iroquois] have been in posses^
*Rev. S. D. Peet. in The Ainerican Antiqiuirian, Vol. I.. No. 2.
sion of Lake Erie." Mitchell's map of the same year
supplies an interesting note: "The Six Nations have ex-
tended their territories to the river Illinois ever since the
year 1672, when they were subdued and incorporated
with the antient Chaouanons, the native proprietors of
these countries and the river Ohio. . . . The
Ohio Indians are a mixt tribe of the several Indians
of our colonies, settled here under the Six Nations, who
have allwaies been in Alliance and subjection to the
English." The territory of these renowned conquerors
appears upon the rriaps as early as 1722 as a geographical
district or political division named "Iroquois." It ex-
tended from Montreal to the Susquehanna, thence to the
west end of Lake Erie, north to Lake Huron, and east
to Montreal again — thus including about half of the
present territory of Ohio. In the maps of 1755 the Iro-
quois' tract is extended to the Mississippi, and includes
everything between that river and Lake Ontario, the Ohio,
and the great lakes. One map divides "the country of
the confederate Indians," now enlarged from five to
seven nations, into their "place of residence," New York;,
their "deer-hunting country" (Tunasonruntic), which
was Ohio; and their "beaver-hunting countries," or
Canada.
Nearly, then, to the period of exploration in the Ohio
country, the Eries dwelt here; and fragments of their
tribe probably remained when the first white men came,
dwelling amid their conquerors, but not to be identified
as separate from them. The indications, from traditions
and the maps, which furnish the only data we have con-
cerning them, are that the Eries only occupied the lands
east of the Cuyahoga and south of the lake; while that
west of the river was held by a kindred tribe, the Wyan-
dots or Hurons. The later of the two classes of earth-
works found in northern Ohio are assigned by some in-
quirers to the Eries, to whom many of the burial places
and skeletons found in this region undoubtedly belong.
The Indian names of streams, as well as that of the great
lake to the northward, are supposed to have been given
by them.
THE WYANDOTS, OR HURONS.
After the middle of the last century, knowledge con-
cerning the Indians of Ohio was rapidly multiplied.
Traders and explorers began, a little before that time, to
contribute information about the tribes among whom they
journeyed or traded; and Colonel Bouquet's expedition
in 1764, to the Indian valleys on the Tuscarawas and
Muskingum rivers, offered more definite, detailed, and
authentic knowledge than had been accessible to that
time. Among the tribes thus early reported, one of the
most important was the Wyandots,'br Hurons, as they
were called by the French. This was a branch of the
great Iroquois family, but had been warred upon by their
red kindred, driven from their homes on the lake whose
name perpetuates their memory, pushed to the northwest,
into Michigan and Wisconsin, among the Ottawas and
other tribes. Here, however, they encountered an un-
friendly wing of the Dakota family, from the west of the
Mississippi, and were by them hunted again southeastward.
They finally appear upon the maps as located in northern
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
31
and western Ohio, west of the Cuyahoga river, "assigned
to this territory," says Evans' map of 1755, "by express
leave of the Iroquqis." They held from the lake south-
ward to the headwaters of the Scioto and the Miamis,
and in some places below. They had villages even
upon the site of Columbus and elsewhere in the present
Franklin county. They were also mingled with the Del-
awares of southeastern Ohio. Although so often over-
powered, they were still a martial people, and never sur-
rendered themselves prisoners. General Harrison said
of the Wyandot : " He was trained to die for the inter-
est or honor of his tribe, and to consider submission to
an enemy the lowest degradation." Their grand sachem
during the early white occupancy of the State, Tahre, or
the Crane, was undoubtedly a distinguished example of
the finer sort of American Indian. The Wyandots held
their lands in Ohio for a long time, subject to the Iro-
quois, without claiming proprietorship; and their name
appears on none of the treaties with the English or the
United States until after 1784.
THE DELAWARES.
These claimed to be the elder branch of the Lenni-
Lenape tribes, and called themselves the "grandfathers "
of the kindred nations, while recognizing the superiority
of the Wyandots. This claim has been admitted by
most writers upon the Indians. like the Fries, they were
of Algonquin stock, and had removed from the Delaware
and Susquehanna rivers to the Alleghany and the Ohio.
This territory they were allowed by the grace of the all-
cbnquering Iroquois, who had early subjugated them.
Their first removal from their original seat upon or near
the Atlantic coast did not occur, however, until after the
advent of William Penn. They then occupied lands in
Virginia, but sold them by the treaty of Lancaster in
1744, and moved westward. In 1752, with other tribes,
by the treaty of Logstown, they formaUy assented to the
settlement oi whites in the region south of the Ohio.
About that time they were found numerously in villages
on the Muskingum and the Beaver, but, according to
Gist's journal of 1754, not anywhere west of the Hock-
hocking. One unimportant Delaware tribe, the Munsees
(some call these the Mingses), are found on the maps as
far up the Ohio as the Venango river. (JBetween this and
the Scioto the Delaware territories were presumably
located. y In 1779, however, the delegates of the tribes
gave to Congress, then at Princeton, New Jersey, the
definition of a boundary which included the Miami and
Wyandot tracts, and very likely others, as well as their
own. It was as follows :
From the mouth of the Alleghany at Fort Pitt to Venango, and from
thence up French creek and by LeBcBuf along the old road to Presque
Isle, on the west; the Ohio river, including all the islands in it, from
Fort Pitt to the Oubache (Wabash) on the south; thence up the Ou-
bache to the broad Opecom'ecah, and up the same to the head thereof;
and from thence to the headwaters and springs of the northwestern
branches of the Great Miami or Rocky river; thence across to the head-
waters and springs of the most northwestern branches of the Scioto
river ; thence to the head westernmost springs of the Sandusky river ;
thence down the same river, including the islands in it and the Httle
lake, to Lake Erie on the west and northwest, and Lake Erie on the
north.
There is no probability that the Delawares ever occu-
pied, at least within the period of white exploration or
occupancy, any large part of this vast tract. What they
did own north of the Ohio or east of the Cuyahoga they
ceded to the whites by the treaty of 1785. The tribe,
however, was represented among the Ohio Indians so late
as 181 3, when Delawares joined with others in a contract
of amity and peace with the whites at Frankhnton, on
the present site of the western part of Columbus.
THE SHAWNEES.
The first that is known of this important and warlike
tribe, they lived to the south of the Cumberland and
Ohio rivers, as all the early Frenth and English maps of
the western country show. One writer says they formerly
lived on the Mississippi, whence they removed to the
sources of a river in South Carolina, and, there coming
in contact with the Cherokees and the Catawbas, they
moved on to the Savannah. This seems to be con-
firmed, in part, by the tradition of the Sauks and Foxes,
of the Upper Mississippi region, who say the Shawnees
were of the same stock with themselves, but migrated to
the south. As early as 1632 they were mentioned by De
Laet as residing on the Delaware river, whither they are
supposed to have emigrated from Ohio. Forty years
after the above date they joined theinselves in an alliance
for the defence of the Andastes against the Iroquois.
The Andastes were themselves an Iroquois tribe, now
long extinct, which had its home on the Alleghany and
the Upper Ohio, and are said at this time to have been
located on the Susquehanna. Soon after, however,
they are again found among the Delawares of the
Delaware, where they staid till a backward emigration to
Ohio began about 1744. They, a portion of the tribe
which had not gone south, had been previously on the
Miamis, being the first tribe of which we hear in this
region; and were there attacked and scattered by the
terrible Iroquois. They now, upon their return, were
located, by express permission of the Wyandots and the
Iroquois, on and near the Scioto and Mad rivers. Here
they were divided into four bands — the Chillicothe,
Piqua, Kiskapocke, and Mequachuke; and in the Scioto
valley their chief town was situated, called by the English
"Lower Shawneetown." There is also a Shawneetown in
southern Illinois; and the wide wanderings of this people
are elsewhere shown by the names they have left, as the
Suwanee river of the popular song, in South Carohna, the
Piqua of Pennsylvania and the town of the same name
in the Miami country, and the Chouanon (now Cumber-
land) river of the old maps. They were the only tribe
among the northern Indians who had a tradition of for-
eign origin; and for some time after the whites began to
know them, they held a yearly festival to commemorate
the safe arrival of their ancestors in the Western, world.
After their arrival in the Scioto valley, they were i( id
by the portion of the tribe which had settled .1 the
south. From this branch, son of a Shawnee father who
had married a Creek woman during the southern resi-
dence, the celebrated Tecumseh and his brother, Els-
quataway, or "the Prophet," are said to have sprung.
Under the leadership of the former a part of the tribe
32
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
joined the British in the AVar of 1812, in which Tecum-
seh lost his life. Cornstalk, the leading chieftain of the
Scioto bands; the Grenadier Squaw, his sister, so called
from her height and size, and whom all accounts repre-
sent as an Indian woman of unusual ability and acute-
ness; Cornplanter, and other famous warriors, were also
of the Shawneesjand Logan, the celebrated Mingo chief,
lived among them here. The sites of their towns and
the places where they tortured their hapless prisoners are
still pointed out upon the fertile "Pickaway Plains," in
Pickaway county, a few miles from Circleville. Cornstalk
is described as "a man whose energy, courage, and good
sense placed him among the very foremost of the native
heroes of this land." The following pathetic story is told
of his fate, which reflects anything but credit upon the
whites who were concerned in it :
"This truly great man, who was himself for peace, but
who found all his neighbors and the warriors of his own
tribe stuTcd up to war by the agents of England, went
over to the American fort at Point Pleasant, at the mouth
of the Great Kenawha, to talk the matter over with Cap-
tain Arbuckle, who was in command there and with
whom he was acquainted. This was in the early summer
of 1777 ; and the Americans, knowing that the Shawnees
were inclining to the enemy, thought it would be a good
plan to detain Cornstalk and a young chief. Red Hawk,
who was with him, and make them hostages. The old
chief, finding himself entrapped, calmly awaited the re-
sult. Ellinipsco, the son of Cornstalk, who came the
next morning to see his father, was also detained. Toward
night, one of the white hunters having been shot by an
unknown Indian, the soldiers raised a cry, 'kill the red dogs
in the fort,' and immediately carried their bloody thought
into execution, the commander endeavoring, though almost
unheeded, to dissuade them from their purpose. Corn-
stalk fell pierced by seven musket balls, and his son and
Red Hawk mel the same fate. Cornstalk saw his assas-
sinators coming, and met them at the door of the hut in
which he was confined, his arms folded upon his massive
chest and his whole mien expressing a magnificent stoi-
cism. This was by no means the only shameful act of
treachery on the part of the whites. The murder very
naturally aroused an intense feeling of hatred for the
whites throughout the Shawnee division, and was the
cause of much future bloodshed."
For more than forty years after the return and reunion
of the tribe, 1750, it was engaged in almost constant war-
fare with the whites. They were among the most active
allies of the French and sometimes of the British. After
the conquest of Canada by the latter, they continued
hostilities against the settlements, in alliance with the
Delawares, until after the successful campaign of Colonel
Bouquet. He, in 1764, estimated their bands upon the
Scioto to number five hundred warriors. They, took an
active part against the patriots in the war of the Revolu-
tion and in the Indian war that followed, continuing it
among the early settlers in this State until hostilities were
terminated by the peace of Greenville in 1795. These
Indians are specially distinguished in our national history.
They have been variously called the "Bedouins of the
American wilderness" and "the Spartans of the race,"
from their constancy in braving danger and enduring the
consequences of defeat. They were undoubtedly among
the ablest and bravest of the red men of the Ohio wilder-
ness.
THE OTTAWAS, CHIPPEWAS, AND MINGOS.
Of these there is not much to say, as they make no
great figure in early Ohio history. The former had their
headquarters in this State, near or with the Wyandots, in
the valleys of the Maumee and the Sandusky. They
lived originally, so far as is known, upon the banks of
the Canadian river which retains their name (the name
also of the capital of the Dominion), whence they were
driven by the confederated Iroquois and scattered west-
ward and southward along both shores of Lake Erie.
Their chief seats were far away on the south shore of
Lake Superior, where they became a powerful tribe, and,
though remote, were exceedingly troublesome to the
whites. Pontiac, hero of the famous conspiracy of 1763,
was an Ottawa chief, and his tribe was foremost in the
meditated mischief. -They were the last of' the greater
tribes to succumb U^ the po\\:/r of the whites.
uiib td' the poWr
;was were also an
The ChippewaS were also an important and numerous
people, having their tribal centre in the far north, even
beyond the Ottawas, in the Lake Superior region. There
they were principally known as Ojibways or Ojibbeways,
and were the first Indians met in that country by the
French missionaries and explorers about 1640. They
are an Algonquin tribe, and were formerly all well-de-
veloped, fine-looking fellows, expert hunters, brave war-
riors, and fond of adventure. They are still but little
given to agriculture; yet some members of the tribe have
proved susceptible of considerable education. "George
Copway," "Peter Jones," "Edward Cowles," and perhaps
others of the tribe, have been reputable writers and speak-
ers upon matters concerning their people. In Ohio they
occupied lands on the south shore of Lake Erie, most of
which they surrendered in 1805, and the remainder in
1817. They were much engaged in hostilities against
the settlers, but joined in the peace of Greenville, and
gave no serious trouble afterwards until the second war
with Great Britain, when they were again hostile, but
joined in the general pacification of the tribes the year
after it closed.
Not much is recorded in Ohio history of the Mingos,
who are by some supposed to be identified with the
Shawnees. They are known separately, however, as
residing in considerable number about "Mingo Bottom,"
on- the Ohio, below Steubenville, and to some extent in
the Scioto valley. Here their most famous leader, Tah-
gah-jute, or Logan, though himself the son of a Cayuga
chief, chose his home, as before noted, among a cluster
of the Shawnee towns on the Pickaway plains, his own
residence being at "Old Chillicothe," now Westfall.
It was in this neighborhood that Logan gave Colonel
Gibson the substance of his famous address to Lord Dun-
more, and at Charlotte, on the other side of the river,
that Dunmore's campaign of 1774 came to a peaceful end.
They are believed, unlike the Shawnees, to have been
an offshoot of the Iroquois family. It may here be noted
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
33
that the Ohio tribes seem to have Hved in general friend-
liness, and that some of their lands were frequently com-
rnon or neutral territory, in which the tribes intermixed
at pleasure, outside of the tracts claimed as peculiarly
the property of each. Hence they became more or less
commingled, and in the Scioto valley, and elsewhere in
the State, when the first definite knowledge of the Ohio
Indians was obtained, not only the Mingos and Shaw-
nees, and the Shawnees and Miamis, but also the Wyan-
dots, Delawares, and others were found residing amicably
^together.
THE MIAMIS.
The people of southwestern Ohio are chiefly interested
in the story of the Miami Indians, although they occu-
pied but a comparatively small tract in this State, their
habitat being mainly between the Miami country and the
Wabash.
The famous Miami chief. Little Turtle, however, thus
outlined the former boundaries of his tribe, in the great
council at,Greenville, in 1795 : "My forefather kindled
the first fire at Detroit; from thence he extended his
lines to the headwaters of the Scioto; from thence to its
mouth ; from thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the
Wabash; and from thence to Chicago, on Lake Michigan.
These are the boundaries within which the prints of my
ancestors' houses are everywhere to be seen." The nar-
ratives of the early French explorers singularly confirm
the statements of the Indian orator. They found the
Miamis here and there upon the territory thus defined,
and not anywhere else.
They were of the Algonquin stock, and Charlevoixj in
1 72 1, wrote that there was no doubt they were not long
before identified with the Illinois, the hereditary and
most formidable enemies of the Iroquois, and the first
Indians encountered by Father Marquette in his voyage
down the Mississippi. They included the Ouiatenon or
Wea tribe of Indiana, the Peanguichia or Piankeshaw,
the Pepikokia, Kilatak, and other tribes or bands. In
Ohio, however, they were known in but three sepa-
rate tribes — the Miamis proper, occupying the territory
drained by the Maumee; the Piankeshaws, south of the
former, and mainly between the Wabash and the Miami
rivers; and the Twigtwees (by which name all the Miamis
have sometimes been designated), still south of them,
and likewise on the Wabash and Miami rivers, *vvhere
they had invited the Shawnees to settle among them and
aid in resisting the incursions of the Iroquois. The
Hon. Albert Gallatin wrote in his Indian Tribes: "In
the year 1684, in answer to the complaint of the French
that they had attacked the Twigtwees or Miamis, the
Five Nations assigned as one of the causes of the war
that the Twigtwees had invited into their country the
'Satanas' [the Shawnees] in order to make war against
them." There was another and probably related tribe
toward the headwaters of the Miamis, called Pickawil-
lanies or Picts, who had a well known village called
Pickawillany, where was also an English fort established
in 1748, and marked on maps of that period as "the
extent of the English settlements."
The Miamis were found by the French in 1658 as far
to the northwest as Green bay, and AUouez fell in with
a large village of them in 1670, at the head of Fox
river. Ten years afterward La Salle found them in con-
siderable number upon the St. Joseph's river, in south-
western Michigan, which was called from them the River
of the Miamis. They also frequented the region about
Chicago, but had retired from both these districts when
Cadillac, commandant at Detroit, marched against them
in 1707. By 1721 they had returned to the St. Joseph's
and were also on the Miamis, and were subsequently
found, in their various bands, scattered through the Ohio
and Indiana country before mentioned as their home.
They joined in the conspiracy of Pontiac, and captured
the British forts Miami and St. Joseph's ; but during the
Revolution sided with England, and made peace only
after the successful expedition of George Rogers Clark,
in which some of their towns were devastated. They
continued hostilities against the settlers at intervals, how-
ever, and were the main instruments of the disastrous
defeats sustained by Generals Harmar and St. Clair, in
1790-91. They were led in these actions by their most
renowned chief, Meche Cunnaqua, or "Little Turtle,"
who is remembered by persons still living as a noble
looking specimen of the sons of the forest, and other-
wise a superior Indian. He was present, but not com-
manding, at the defeat of the savages by "Mad Anthony
Wayne" in 1794, and advised strongly against going into
action. He is reported to have said on this occasion:
"We have beaten the enemy twice; we cannot expect
always the same good fortune. The Americans are now
led by a chief who never sleeps. The day and the night
are alike to him. I advise peace." He was one of the
chiefs who signed the treaty of Greenville, and was faith-
ful to it, never taking the war path thereafter. He died
thirty years afterwards, at Fort Wayne, of gout, induced
by too generous living among his white friends. Mr.
E. D. Mansfield, who saw Little Turtle at his father's
house early in the century, mentions him in his Personal
Memories as "this most acute and sagacious of Indian
statesmen, and a polished gentleman. He had wit,
humor, and intelligence. He was an extensive traveller,
and had visited all parts of the country, and became
acquainted with many distinguished men. He had seen
and admired General Washington." Colonel John Johns-
ton, long Indian agent in Ohio, has also put on record
his high appreciation of Little Turtle's qualities of mind
and character. For many years after the peace of Green-
ville, in which they bore full part, they gave the whites
little trouble and rapidly declined as a tribe. By sundry
treaties between this time (1795) and 1809 they ceded
their lands between the Wabash and the Ohio State line,
beyond which they do not seem to have claimed the
territory, or, if claimed, the claim was not allowed them.
They refused to join in the hostile alliance proposed by
Tecumseh, but their sympathies were finally enlisted
against the Americans in the War of 1812, and they
attacked a detachment of General Harrison's army sent
among them under Lieutenant Colonel Campbell. De-
feated in this action, they again sued for peace, and a
final treaty was concluded with them September 8, 1815.
34
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
They had become much addicted to drunkenness and
violence, and their numbers decreased fast. They are
now more nearly extinct than any other great Indian
nation of their day.
The first settlers of Hamilton county confronted prin-
cipally the Twigtwees or Miamis. We shall presently
consider the character of their intercourse, and rehearse
some of the thrilling stories of Indian massacre in this
region.
INDIANS REMAINING IN 181I.
In the year 1811 the following fragments of tribes
were enumerated or estimated as still remaining, with
the numbers stated, in the northwest corner of the State
— that part as yet unpurchased from the Indians: Shaw-
nees, seven hundred; Ottawas, five hundred and fifty;
Wyandots, three hundred; Senecas, two hundred; Dela-
wares and Miamis, two hundred. An aggregate was
thus made up of but one thousand nine hundred and
seventy; and the number continually decreased until
their ultimate removal. The Shawnees were then resid-
ing about the headwaters of the Auglaize and the Great
Miami rivers, the Ottawas principally on Lake Erie, the
Wyandots on the Sandusky, and the little bands of the
Senecas, Delawares, and Miamis on the same river and
its tributary streams.
CHAPTER V.
TITLES TO OHIO.~THE MIAMI PURCHASE.
Long after the occupancy by the Mound Builders
ceased, but nearly a century and a half before that of
the red man had closed in all parts of Ohio, came in the
claim of the French to possession. The daring explora-
tions of that renowned discoverer, Robert Cavalier de La
Salle, included, it is rather hesitatingly said, a journey
from Lake Erie to the southward, over the portage to the
Allegheny river, and thence down the Ohio to the falls at
the present site of Louisville. Upon this reputed dis-
covery was based the claim of France to domination of
the territory thus traversed by her courageous knight-
errant; and, although it was somewhat feebly disputed by
Great Britain, the title was held good until the treaty of
Paris, in 1763, when it, together with the title to all the
rest of "New France" northwest of the Ohio, was vested
in the British Empire. The Revolutionary war, culmi-
nating in the peace convention concluded at -Paris in
1783, transferred the ownership thereof to the new Amer-
ican Republic.
EXTINCTION OF THE INDIAN TITLES.
Upon the arrogant assumption that their prowess had
subjected all the territory between the oceans, the Iro-
quois, or Six Nations, included in their claim, as we have
seen, the present State of Ohio. The treaty of Fort
Stanwix, October 22, 1784, in which the Indians were
represented by the famous chiefs, Cornplanter and Red
Jacket, and Congress by its commissioners, Oliver Wolcott,
Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, finally extinguished this.
In January of the next year the treaty of Fort Mcintosh,
negotiated by General George Rogers Clark, General
Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, for the Government,
and the chiefs of the Delaware, Wyandot, Ottawa, and
Chippewa Indians, fixed the boundary of their tribal
territories along the Cuyahoga river and the main
branch of the Tuscarawas, to the fork of the latter near
Fort Laurens, and thence westwardly to the portage be-
tween the headwaters of the Great Miami and the Miami
of the Lakes (later the Maumee), down that stream to the
lake, and thence along the south shore to the mouth of
the Cuyahoga. Similar limitations for the Ohio tribes
were prescribed by the treaty of Fort Finney, concluded
with the Shawnees at the mouth of the Great Miami,
within the present tract of Hamilton county, January 31,
1786, by Generals Butler, Clark, and Parsons; by that of
Fort Harmar, arranged by Governor Arthur St. Clair, Jan-
uary 9, 1789; and the treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795.
Subsequent treaties and purchases extinguished all re-
maining Indian titles in the State.
THE STATE CLAIMS.
For some time before the close of the Revolutionary
war, and thereafter, the States of Massachusetts, Connec-
ticut, and New York laid claims, under the old colonial
grants, to parts of the territory now occupied by the com-
monwealth of Ohio. Virginia went further, and claimed
the whole, as included in her title to all the land north-
west of the Ohio, holding, she asserted, under the colo-
nial charters granted by King James I in 1608, 1609, and
161 1, and by right of conquest by General Clark in 1778
and 1779. The conflicting claims were composed with-
out serious trouble. New York led the way, May i,
1782, in ceding her rights therein to the United States.
Virginia followed in a deed of cession, March 17, 1784,
reserving, however, for grants to her Revolutionary sol-
diers, what has since been known as the "Virginia Mili-
tary District," between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers.
Massachusetts came next, in a resolution of November
13, 1784, authorizing her delegates in Congress to cede
to the United States all her lands west of New York
State. Connecticut closed the acts of cession in Sep-
tember, 1786, by relinquishing all her claims west of the
Western Reserve. This grant was fitly characterized by
the late Cliief Justice Chase as "the last tardy and re-
luctant sacrifice of State pretensions to the common
good."
THE LATER TITLES
to the lands of Ohio were all derived, primarily, from
the General Government. It was a condition in the
terms of admission of Ohio as a State into the Federal
Union, that the fee simple to all lands within her bor-
ders, especially those previously sold or granted, should
vest in the United States. Under this stipulation, and
by earlier grants or sales, divers companies, corporations,
and persons have acquired title by grant or sale from the
General Government. An unusual diversity, indeed, for
a western State, has prevailed in this matter, as will be
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
35
seen by the list of the most important classes into which
the lands of Ohio are divided: Congress Lands, United
States Military Lands, the Virginia Military District, the
Western Reserve, the Fire Lands, the Ohio Company's
Purchase on the Muskingum, Symmes' Purchase (or
the Miami), the Donation Tract, the Refugee Tract, the
French Grant, Dolerman's Grant, Zane's Grant, Canal
Lands, Turnpike Lands, Maumee Road Lands, School
Lands, College Lands, Ministerial Lands, Moravian
Lands, and Salt Sections. The history of some of these
is highly interesting; but it cannot be detailed here.
The lands belonging to the present county of Hamilton
more immediately concern us. They belong, for the
most part, to what is famous in Ohio land history as the
Miami or Symmes Purchase, in part also to the class
designated as Congress Lands, and in part to
THE VIRGINIA MILITARY DISTRICT.
That portion of Hamilton county lying east of the
Little Miami river, being the township of Anderson, is
included among the Virginia Military lands. The Gen-
eral Assembly of the Old Dominion, at the session of
October 20, 1783, passed an act authorizing its delegates
in Congress to convey to the United States all the right
and title of that commonwealth to the territory northwest
of the Ohio river. Congress agreed to accept this ces-
sion, with the stipulations that this vast tract should be
formed into States containing each a suitable amount of
territory, and that the States so formed should be dis-
tinctly Republican, and admitted members of the Federal
Union, having the same rights of sovereignty and free-
dom as the other States. On the seventeenth of March
following, the Hons. Thomas Jefferson, Arthur Lee,
James Monroe, and Samuel Hardy, the Virginian dele-
gates in Congress, conveyed to the United States "all
right, title, and claim, as well as of jurisdiction, which the
said commonwealth hath to the territory, or tract of
country, within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate,
lying, and being northwest of the river Ohio." The act
of cession contained, however, the following reservations:
That in case the quantity of good land on the southwest side of the
Ohio, upon the waters of Cumberland river, and between the Great
and Tennessee rivers, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia
troops upon Continental establishment, should, from the North Carolina
line, bearing in further upon the Cumberland lands than was expected,
prove insufficient for these legal bounties, the deficiency should be made
up to the said troops in good lands, to be laid off between the rivers
Scioto and Little Miami, on the northwest side of the river Ohio, in
such proportions to them as have been engaged to them by the laws Of
Virginia.
The land embraced in this reservation constitutes the
Virginia Military district in Ohio, and is composed of the
counties of Adams, Brown, Clinton, Clermont, Highland,
Fayette, Madison, and Union, and portions of Scioto,
Pike, Ross, Pickaway, Franklin, Delaware, Marion,
Hardin, Logan, Clark, Greene, Champaign, Warren,
and Hamilton counties.
Congress passed an act authorizing the establishment
of the reservation, and its location as defined by the leg-
islature of Virginia, upon the report of the executive of
that State that the suspected deficiency of good lands
upon the waters of the Cumberland actually existed.
The Virginia soldiers of the Continental line, who
served in the Revolutionary war, were compensated in
bounty awards out of these lands according to their rank,
time of service, and other bases of claim. The course pur-
sued in locating and patenting the bounty lands was as
follows : The Secretary of War made to the Executive
of Virginia a return of the names of such officers
and soldiers as were by the State law entitled to them,
and the governor issued warrants to the same. When
these were located, a return of the surveys was made to
the Secretary of State of the United States, the warrant
was returned to the Virginia land office whence it issued,
and a patent signed by the President obtained, which
vested full ownership in the patentee or his grantees.
When it was found, as often happened, that a survey in-
cluded land previously located, the holder of the warrant
was permitted to vacate his survey, or a part of it, and
locate his warrant elsewhere. This provision, however,
did not obviate much subsequent litigation, which is now
mostly quieted. Dr. Drake, in his Picture of Cincinnati,
pubHshed 181 5, remarks that the interfering claims, up
to that time, had " seldom produced litigation," which is
a pleasant thing to remember, in view of the troubles
that arose afterwards. Not only the soldier primarily
entitled to the warrant, but any heir or assignee of his,
was entitled to location. Large numbers of these warrants
came into the hands of the early surveyors and settlers, as
General Nathaniel Massie, Duncan McArthur, Mr. Sulli-
vant, and others, and were by them used in securing vast
and valuable tracts in the district. The names of these
gentlemen appear very frequently as original owners upon
the maps of the townships and counties now lying within
its territory; and some of them are in the list of original
owners in Anderson township, which will be given in the
history of that division of the county.
On the same day on which the act was passed, Richard
C. Anderson, a colonel in the Federal army, was appoint-
ed surveyor for the Continental line, by the officers
named in the act and authorized to make such appoint-
ment as they saw fit. He opened his office at Louisville,
for entries upon the Kentucky lands, on the twentieth of
July, 1784. When the Kentucky grant was exhausted,
he opened another office — in Chillicothe we believe — for
entries in the Ohio tract. He held this position up to
the time of his death in October, 1826; and during the
long period of his incumbency faithfully discharged its
onerous duties. His son-in-law, Allen Latham, esq., of
Chillicothe, was appointed surveyor some time after Col-
onel Anderson's death, and opened his office in the town
named in July, 1829. The office is still held in that
place by one of the surveyors under Latham, now the
venerable E. P. Kendrick, esq., though its duties have
become little more than nominal. He has held the post,
under Presidential appointment, for nearly forty years.
The district was originally surveyed with extreme irregu-
larity, no such thing as section or range lines being
recognized, and warrants being located according to the
eligibility of the lands or the taste or fancy of the pro-
prietor. Nothing like ranges or townships was laid off
until the work was done by the county commissioners in
36
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
the several counties, when it became necessary to erect
townships for civil purposes. Hence the irregular shape
and utter want of uniformity in size of most of the town-
ships in the Military District.
CONGRESS LANDS.
In this division, by far the largest known to the history
of land titles in this State or the country at large, belongs
all the territory in Hamilton lying west of the Great Mi-
ami river, viz.: Whitewater, Harrison, and Crosby town-
ships. The immense tract of which these are part was
surveyed and put into market at first by direct sales from
the Treasury Department of the Government, as soon as
practicable after the passage of an ordinance by Congress
to that effect, in 1785, when the several States claiming
ownership had all made deeds of cession to the United
States and the title had been cleared and perfected by
Indian treaties. By this ordinance the initial steps of
the survey were directed to be taken by the "Geographer
of the United States," an official ■ personage of no little
importance, considering his talents and character and the
extraordinary work he did, but whom history seems
strangely to have neglected. A' well directed attempt
has been made by Colonel Charles Whittlesey, of Cleve-
land, to rescue the name and services of this useful public
officer from oblivion; and we take pleasure in presenting
here in full his note upon the subject:
An office was created by the Continental Congress about the
middle of the Revolution, called the "Geographer of the United
States." Its purpose is not now fully understpod, but appears at first
to have been military. The Government, and especially the army,
needed a bureau of charts and of geographical knowledge, such as all
civilized governments have, but of which it was then destitute.
At the opening of the American rebellion Thomas Hutchins, of
the colony of New Jersey, was a captain in the Si.\tieth Regiment of
Foot, which was raised in the colonies, forming one of the battalions
known as the "Royal Americans." This regiment constituted part of
Colonel Bouquet's command in the expeditions of 1763 and 1764, into
the Ohio country against the Indians who lived upon the Muskingum
river. Hutchins appears to have been a well educated man.* Bouquet
made him engineer to the e-xpedition, and in pursuance of this duty he
surveyed and measured the route day by day, after it moved west of
Pittsburgh. He was one of those frontier characters who combine
fearlessness, intelligence, and a love of adventure, of whom there were
at that time quite a number in the British army. Hutchins kept a
journal of the march, with a map of the route showing the position of
each encampment, which was published at Philadelphia in 1765, by the
historian of the expedition, the Rev. William Smith, of Philadelphia.
While in the Ohio country, he conceived the plan of settling it by mili-
tary colonies, as the best mode of 'securing peace with the Indians.
The scheme was at the same time brilliant and practical.
At the outbreak of the Revolution Captain Hutchins was in Lon-
don, where he was soon afterwards suspected by the British agents of
being in communication with Benjamin Franklin at Paris. He was put
in prison, and his fortune, amounting to about forty thousand dollars,
confiscated. In 1778 he succeeded in reaching Savannah in Georgia,
and was soon after made "Geographer" to the Confederation. There
is very little information in regard to his functions until the new govern-
ment had achieved its independence, and in 1784 acquired title to the
western lands. By the ordinance of May 20, 1785, the geographer is
directed to commence the survey of Government lands on the north
side of the Ohio river where the west line of Pennsylvania should cross
the same. An east and west base line was to be run thence westerly
through the territory, which Mr. Hutchins was required to superintend
in person and to take the latitude of certain prominent points, espe-
cially the mouths of rivers. Longitude on land was not then attainable,
for want of proper instruments.
* He was author of the book cited in Chapter I of this volil
a unique description of the Great and Little "Miueanii" rive
, from which
To that day the surveys of all countries had been made on a base
line determined arbitrarily by roads, rivers, mountains, or coasts. The
most simple of all modes, that of north and south and east and west
lines, had never entered the minds of mathematicians; or, if it had,
had never been reduced to practice. The plan provided for in the
ordinance of 1785 is no doitbt the invention of Mr. Hutchins, which
was foreshadowed in his scheme for military settlements, promulgated
in 1765.
By this original mode of laying out land, the township lines were to
be run in squares, on the true meridian, six miles apart, and at right
angles, east and west, parallel to the equator. Within these squares
the lots or sections are laid out, also in squares, thirty-six in number,
of one mile on a side, each containing six hundred and forty acres.
All our Government lands have been surveyed on that plan, from that
day to this. Each section and township throughout this vast space is
so marked as to be distinguished from any other. Wherever the corner
and witness trees are standing, whoever visits them can at once deter-
mine the latitude and longitude of his position, and the distance from
each base and meridian line.
"Hutchins, as geographer, had power to appoint surveyors, who
were first to run the lines of seven ranges of townships, next west of
the Pennsylvania line, from the Ohio river to the forty-first parallel
north latitude. It was accomplished during the years 1786-7, among
hostile Indians, who, notwithstanding the land had been ceded to the
United States, were wholly opposed to the occupation by white men.
Colonel Harmar's battalion, stationed on the Ohio and Alleghany
rivers, was required to do duty in the woods as a guard with the sur-
veyors. Otherwise the lines could not have been run.
While Hutchins was zealously engaged in this work, having his
office at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was called away from it by
death early in the year 1788. The office of geographer expired with
him. Its duties were fora time transferred to the Treasury department
and eventually tlie office of "Surveyor General of the Public Lands"
was created. Very little is known of the private history ot this.tnodest
patriot of the Revolution. Probably he left no descendants. The
office he held during nearly the entire existence of the Continental
Congress was a very important one, requiring a high order of mathe-
matical talent, physical energy, and personal courage. As the author of
the best system of public surveys now. known, his name should in some
way be made more conspicuous in our annals. Even the place where
his remains were interred, has passed into forgetfulness. From his first
journey in Ohio with Colonel Bouquet, he foresaw and predicted that it
would become a populous country. He lived barely long enough to
see his favorite scheme of colonization commenced at Marietta by the
soldiers of the Revolution.
The office of "Surveyor-Generalof the Public Lands"
was created by Act of Congress May 18, 1796, his duties
at first being confined to the Northwestern Territory, but
including, after the purchase of Louisiana, all the public
domain west of the Mississippi and north of the thirty-
third parallel of latitude. He appointed and instructed
his own deputies, by whom the field surveys were exe-
cuted. General Rufus Putnam, one of the Ohio com-
pany, and a pioneer at Marietta, was the first surveyor-
general (1796), and his successors, during about half a
century after the creation of the office, were Jared Mans-
field, 1803; Josiah Meigs, 1813; Edward Tiffin, 1814;
William Lytle, 1829; Micajah T. Williams, 1831; Robert
G. Lytle, 1835, and Ezekiel S. Haines, 1838. The
office was at first kept in Marietta, but was removed to
Ludlow's station, near Cincinnati, in 1805, by Mr. Mans-
field, and was afterwards for a long time kept in Cincin-
nati. Very important work was done in the surveys by
this gentleman. He was of English stock, his ancestors
in this country settling at Boston in 1634, and at New
Haven five years thereafter. He was a graduate of Yale
college, and a thorough scientist for his day. Hon. E.
D. Mansfield, his son, in his "Personal Memories," ex-
presses the opinion that he was the only man appointed
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
37
to public office solely on the ground of his scientific at-
tainments. He was appointed by President Jefferson
while a teacher at the West Point Military academy, in
1803, more particularly to establish meridian lines, for
want of which some of the surveys had gone sadly astray
and made much trouble. After waiting some time for
the importation of necessary instruments which could
not then be procured on this side of the Atlantic, he es-
tablished three principal meridians in Ohio and Indiana,
which have since been among the fixed bases of the sur-
veys. General Mansfield retained the office until 1813,
when he resigned, and after some engineering duty for
the Government, resumed his professorship at West
Point, which he retained for fifteen years.
. The land-office was established in Cincinnati under the
law of 1800, creating the Cincinnati Land district and
establishing the offices of register and receiver. Similar
offices were opened by the Government in Marietta,
Steubenville, and Chillicothe. Before this time the
Congress lands had been sold only in tracts of a section
or more each. When William Henry Harrison, after-
ward President Harrison, became the first delegate of the
Northwestern Territory in Congress, he, feeling the obsta-
cle presented by this provision to the rapid settlement of
the country, secured the passage of the law of 1800,
which, among other enactments, directed a portion of
the public lands to be subdivided and sold in tracts of
three hundred and twenty acres, or a half section. The
working of this beneficent provision was so satisfactory
that, by a subsequent act, the subdivisions were offered
in lots of one hundred and sixty acres each, at two dol-
lars per acre, on a credit, if asked, of five years. Finally,
at the instance of Senator Rufus King, of New York, a
law was passed for the offer of eighty acre tracts as the
minimum, and the price was reduced from two dollars to
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, which has since
been the standard rate. Under the credit system, how-
ever, admitted by the acts of 1800 and subsequently, an
immense and most burdensome debt was created by the
settlers on Congress lands. In 1820 it was ascertained
that the amount due from purchasers at the western land
offices aggregated twenty-two millions of dollars — a sum
believed to exceed the total volume of money then cir-
culating in the Western States, and one far beyond the
ability of the delinquent settlers to pay. If Congress
should grant no relief and the laws be enforced, nine-
tenths of theai would be ruined by the loss of their land
and improvements. It was a time of great financial de-
pression. Money could not be had, and no property
could be sold for cash. Over half of the settlers north
of the Ohio were indebted to the Government, and the
feeling among them and their sympathizers in the south-
western States was such that there was imminent danger
of civil war if the Government should rigidly claim its
own. Extension of time for payment would bat increase
the obligations and postpone the evil day; and it was
seen that no practicable way was to be had out of the
difficulty, except by the prompt and utter extinguishment
of the debt as an act of generosity and policy on the
part of the Government. In this exigency a conference
of a number of leadmg business and professional citizens
of Cincinnati resulted in the preparation by Judge Bur-
net— who has left, in substance, this history of the trans-
action— of a memorial to Congress setting forth the facts
in the case. A thousand copies of this were speedily
printed and sent, with a letter of explanation and instruc-
tion, to every city, village, and post office in the States
and territories where public lands were then sold. In a
comparatively short time they began tO| come back in
lar-ge numbers, and very numerously signed. A copy
sent to Mr. Worthington, then governor of the State, se-
cured his approval and influence in reaching the object
of the movement. At the next session of Congress the
memorials were sent in, the desk of every western mem-
ber and delegate being literally covered with them ; and
an act was consequently passed granting the desired re-
lief. Under it the delinquent purchaser received in fee
simple so much of the land he had entered as he had
paid for, and had the privilege of relinquishing so much
as he had not paid and could not pay for. If anything
had been paid upon tracts relinquished, it might be cred-
ited upon tracts retained, so as to save important
improvements. The settler was further reheved by this
most beneficent enactment, in the-release of all the back
interest held by the Government against him. At the
same session, in 1821, the King act before referred to, in
relation to the public lands, was also passed.
Originally, in the survey and sale of Congress lands, it
was proposed to reserve one-seventh of the lands surveyed
for the purpose of bounties to certain of the Continental
troops; but this plan was presently abandoned, in favor
of the grant of an entire tract in the central part of the
State, containing one million five hundred and sixty
thousand acres, and including the whole of the present
county of Coshocton and parts of nine other counties.
Four sections in each township were, however, reserved
for future sale by the Government, and one section was
set apart in each for the maintenance of the public
schools.
The public territory immediately west of the Great
Miami-was surveyed in 1799 and the following year, and
the first sales under the act of Congress putting it
into the market were held at the newly established land,
office in Cincinnati, under direction of the receiver, Gen-
eral James Findlay, beginning the first Monday in April,
1801; and were by public vendue. The minimum price,
as before mentioned, was fixed by the act at two dollars
an acre. Not much more than this was commonly bid.
Jeremiah Butterfield and associates, for example, by the
bid of ten cents per acre more than the minimum, se-
cured two thousand acres along the river, in the north
part of this county, and south part, of Butler, which is
among the finest land in the Miami country, and is to-day
worth at least two hundred thousand dollars. Five per
cent of the purchase money was to be deposited at the
time of purchase, and to be forfeited if an additional sum
making the whole amount equivalent to one-fourth of the
price were not paid within forty days after the sale. An-
other fourth must be paid within two years; the next
within three; and the final installment, with all accu-
£8
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
mulated interest, within four years from the day of sale.
The land-office was kept in Cincinnati for many years,
or until the sales of Congress lands within its jurisdiction
were very nearly completed. Colonel Israel Ludlow was
the first register, and General Findlay first receiver. The
line of registers was continued by Charles Killgore, Daniel
Symmes (who was appointed after the expiration of his
term as judge and served till near the time of his death,
May lo, 1 817), and Peyton S. Symmes, who had his office
in 1819 at the corner of Lawrence and Congress streets,
while General Findlay, still receiver, had his at 30 North
Front street, "in the hotel." The latter Symmes held
the post for many years — so lately as 1833, at least. Of
the names of receivers after Findlay, we have only
those of Andrew M. Bailey, who was receiver in 1829;
Morgan Neville, receiver in 1831, and probably for some
years before and after; and of Thomas Henderson, who
was appointed July 28, 1838.
THE SCHOOL LANDS.
Congress, by its early compact with the people, sug-
gested in the ordinance of 1785, and embodied in the
act of 1802, by which Ohio became a State, gave them
one thirty-sixth part of the public domain northwest of
the Ohio river for the education of their children. The
lands set apart for this purpose, in this State, at least,
were often appropriated by squatters, and through un-
wise, careless, and sometimes corrupt legislation, the
squatters were actually vested with a proprietorship with-
out consideration. Mr. Atwater, in his history of Ohio,
says: "Members of the legislature not unfrequently got
acts passed and leases granted, either to themselves, to
their relatives, or to their warm partisans. One senator
contrived to get by such acts seven entire sections of
land into either his own or his children's possession."
From 1803 to 1820 the general assembly spent much
time every session in passing acts relating to these lands,
without advancing the cause of education to any appre-
ciable extent. In 1821 the house of representatives in
the State legislature appointed five of its members —
Messrs. Caleb Atwater, author of the history just cited,
Lloyd Talbot, James Shields, Roswell Mills, and Josiah
Barber — a committee on schools and school lands. This
committee in due time made a report rehearsing the
wrong management of the school land tract on behalf of
the State, and warmly advocating the establishment of a
system of education and the adoption of measures which
would secure for the people the exercise of the rights
which Congress intended they should possess. In com-
pliance with the recommendation of the committee, the
governor of the State, in May, 1822, having been so
authorized by the legislature, appointed seven commis-
sioners of schools and school lands, viz.: Caleb Atwater,
the Revs. John Collins and James Hope, D. D., Nathan
Guilford, Hon. Ephraim Cutler, Hon. Josiah Barber, and
James M. Bell, esq. The reason why seven persons
were appointed was because there were as many descrip-
tions of school lands in the State — i. e., section num-
bered sixteen in every township of the Congress lands
and in Symmes' Purchase, and a similar proportion in the
Virginia Military District, the Ohio Company's Purchase,
the Refugee lands, and the Connecticut Reserve. For
the three different grants represented in the lands of
Hamilton county the commissioners were: For the Mil-
itary lands, Mr. Bell; for the Congress lands, Mr. Col-
lins; for the Symmes Purchase, Mr. Guilford. The
commission of seven was finally reduced, by various
causes, to three members, Messrs. Atwater, Collins, and
Hoge, who performed the arduous duties incumbent
upon them with little remuneration and (at the time) few
thanks, though posterity has not been wholly unmindful
of their valuable services. Mr. Guilford, of Cincinnati,
always a warm friend of education and an active pro-
moter of the public school interest, though his name may
not much appear in the later transactions of the commis-
sion, was specially prominent and influential in its forma-
tion and earlier work.
The legislature of 1823 adjourned without having
taken any definite action upon the report presented by
the commission; but during the summer and autumn of
the next year the subject of the sale of the school lands
was warmly agitated, and the friends of this measure tri-
umphed over the opposition so far as to elect large ma-
jorities to both branches of the general assembly in favor
of its being made a law. The quantity of land conse-
crated to this purpose was carefully ascertained, and
amounted in 1825 to a little more than half a million of
acres, valued at something less than a million of dol-
lars. A portion of these lands was sold by the State
government, under due authority of Congress, and the
remainder was leased, the avails of the leases and sales
forming a part of the present school fund of the State.
THE MIAMI PURCHASE.
The time had come for planting the foundations of
"the State first born of the ordinance of 1787." That
organic act had called the attention of the New World
to the great fertile wastes to the north and west of La
Belle Riviere. The rich valleys and deep forests had
been growing into knowledge and fame for more than a
generation, and had even attracted the notice and
prompted the official remark of members of the British
government. In 1 750-1 Christopher Gist, as agent of
the old Ohio Land Company, which had been organized
a year or two before by some Enghshmen, and the Wash-
ingtons, Lees, and other Virginians, accompanied by
George Croghan, reached the Great Miami in his journey
across the wilderness country from the present site of
Pittsburgh, and explored its valley for about a hundred
miles to its mouth. His companion had brought liberal
presents from Pennsylvania to the Miamis, and in
return obtained the concession to the English of the
right to plant a fortified trading house at the junction of
Loramie's creek and the Miami, in the country of the
Piankeshaws, the subsequent county of Shelby — an en-
terprise carried into effect the next year, the stockade
then erected being considered the first point of English
settlement in Ohio. It was taken by the French and In-
dians in 1752, and in 1782 was plundered and destroyed
by George Rogers Clark, in his expedition against the
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
39
Miami towns. The soldiers who returned from these in-
cursions, and particularly the Virginians and Marylanders
who accompanied Lord Dunmore in his campaign to the
Scioto valley in 1774, carried back glowing accounts of
the beauty and fertility of the virgin country, and pre-
pared the way for its subsequent colonization. The Mi-
ami valleys were carefully inspected by Daniel Boone,
when a captive among the Shawnees in 1778, and by the
war ])arties led from Kentucky by Bowman and Clark,
against the Indians on the Little Miami and Mad rivers.
In the autumn and winter of 1785, scarcely more than
three years before the permanent occupancy began, Gen-
eral Richard Butler, with a company comprising Parsons,
Zane, Finney, Lewis, and others who were or became ce-
lebrities, voyaged on a tour of observation and official
duty from Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) to the mouth of the
Great Miami, where they built a fort, dwelt for some
months, and concluded an impartial treaty.. In the
years about this time, 1784-5-6, the way was cleared
by Indian treaties and Congressional legislation —
specially by the ordinance of May 20, 1785, providing
for the survey and sale of the public lands — for the set-
tlement of southern Ohio. The more renowned ordi-
nance of July 13, 1787, erecting the Northwest Territory,
and certain minor measures adopted by Congress at the
same session, granting authority to the Government
"board of treasury" to contract for the sale of the lands
thus opened to civilization, completed the preliminaries
necessary to regular and permanent settlement. A be-
ginning of this was promptly made the next year, as is
well known, by the settlement of the Ohio Company,
mainly New Englanders, under the leadership of General
Rufus Putnam, upon their purchase at and about the
mouth of the Muskingum, where they founded Marietta,
named from the hapless Marie Antoinette, at that time
queen of France.
Among those who had been attracted by a visit to the
Miami country was one Captain (or Major) Benjamin
Stites, of. Redstone, Old Fort, now Brownsville, Pennsyl-
vania, who was the prime mover in the inception of the
Miami Purchase. Stites is, indeed, the real hero of the
Purchase, as regards the original conception of it. He
was, like many of the first colonists in the tract, a native
of New Jersey, born at Scotch Plains, Essex county.
While still young he emigrated to western Pennsylvania
and settled on Ten Mile^ creek, in the present county of
Green. Here he became a captain in the militia, and
took an active part in the frontier struggles with the In-
dians. In the spring of 1787 he descended the Ohio
from Redstone with a trading venture, in the shape of a
flat-boat loaded with flour, whiskey, and other wares
adapted to the river market of that day, and floated
down to Limestone, or Limestone Point, now Maysville,
Kentucky. Here his sales had small success, and he
pushed with his goods into the interior at Washington, a
few miles back, where he had better fortune. While
here the Indians came upon a marauding expedition into
the neighborhood, and ran off some horses, taking other
property with them. Stites was a man of great strength
and courage, and accustomed to Indian warfare. He at
once volunteered to go with a party in pursuit. It was
speedily raised, and he hastened with it across the coun-
try on the Indian trail until the river was reached, below
where Augusta now stands, when they kept the Kentucky
shore down to a point opposite the mouth of the Little
Miami. Here it was ascertained that the red robbers
had made a raft and crossed with their booty, evidently
striking for their towns in the Miami country. The
whites likewise made a raft, crossed themselves and their
horses, and pursued the enemy to the vicinity of Old
Chillicothe, a few miles north of Xenia, near the head-
waters of the Little Miami, which it was deemed prudent
not to approach closely, and the expedition retraced its
steps. The return through the valley was made more
leisurely, and Stites had the better opportunity to observe
its beauty and fertility. Before recrossing the Ohio he
had decided to come back to the valley with a colony,
and make a permanent settlement. The idea of
the Miami Purchase, in its rude outlines at least, was
born in his sagacious mind. He closed his business at
Washington as soon as possible and returned to his fam-
ily. Some time afterwards he went to New Jersey for
means with which to accomplish his intents; and there,
at Trenton,* met him whose name was to be forever more
conspicuously identified with the memory of the Pur-
chase than his, the active agent in the prosecution and
consummation of the enterprise — Judge John Cleves
Symmes.
Judge Symmes held at this time an influential position
as a member of Congress from the State of New Jersey.
This celebrated Ohio pioneer was born Iul;^2i, 1742,
at Riverhead, Long Island, the oldest son of the Rev.
Timothy and Mary (Cleves) Symmes. In early life he
was engaged in teaching and land-surveying. He went
to New Jersey some time before the war of the Revolu-
tion, in which he bore an active and honorable part —
was chairman of the Sussex county Committee of 'Safety
and colonel of a militia regiment in 1774, and took his
regiment in March, 1776, to New York, and buill fortifica-
tions, and was afterwards in the battle of Saratoga. He
was presently elected delegate to the New Jersey State
convention, and helped to draft the State constitution.
During the remainder of the war he performed important
military and civil services. In his own State he was suc-
cessively lieutenant-governor, member of the council, and
twelve years a judge of the supreme court; and was for two
years a member of the Continental Congress. February
19, 1788, he was elected by Congress one of the judges
of the Northwest Territory. He was thrice married, his
last wife being a daughter of Governor Livingston, of
New Jersey,' He had two daughters as his sole offsping,
one of whom, Maria, married Major Peyton Short, of
Kentucky, and the other, Annie, became the consort of
General William H. Harrison. ' He was the founder of
North Bend and South Bend, upon the Purchase secured
by himself and colleagues, and, after a long and useful
* We here follow the narrative of Dr. Ezra Ferris, of Columbia, af-
terwards of Lawrenceburgh, Indiana, in his communication to the Cin-
cinnati Daily Gazette oi July 20, 1844. The common statement is that
Stites met Judge Symmes in New York, during tlie session of Congress.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
but troubled life, he died at Cincinnati February 26,
1814. In his later years he became so straitened in
circumstances that he was compelled to assign his
property to his sons-in-law. Some further notice of
Judge Symmes, including a copy of his remarkable will,
may be found hereafter in the annals of Cincinnati. He
is fitly called by Mr. Cist, author of numerous booksand
miscellaneous writings upon Cincinnati and early local
history, "the patriarch of the Miami wilderness," "the
William Penn of the West," "the Columbus of the
woods." The compiler of Annals of the West has neatly
applied to him the words (with slight variation) of R. J.
Meigs' poem, pronounced at Marietta during the Fourth
of July celebration of 1788 :
To him glad Fancy brightest prospect sliows,
Rejoicing Nature all around Iiim glows;
Where late the savage, hid in ambush, lay,
Or roamed the uncultured valleys for his prey.
Her hardy gifts rough Industry extends,
The groves bow down, the lofty forest bends.
Arid see the spires of towns and cities rise.
And domes and temples swell unto the skies.
To Judge Symmes Major Stites, probably for the sake,
mainly, of Symmes' influence in Congress and with the
officers of fhe Government, proposed the purchase, for
themselves and their associates, of a large body of land
in the Miami country, the first eligible tract west of the
Ohio company's purchase and the Virginia Military reser-
vation. Symmes is said to have visited the land of
promise, with five companions, no doubt in the summer
of 1787, before deciding upon the proposal; and on his
return began operations in his own name by the following
memorial :
To his excellency, the President of Cotigfess:
The petition of John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, sboweth:
I'hat your petitioner, encouraged by the resolutions of Congress of the
twenty-third and twenty-se\'enth of July last, stipulating the condition
of a transfer of Federal lands on the Scioto and jMuslcingum rivers
unto Winthrop Sargent and Manasseh Cutler, esqrs. , and their asso-
ciates of New England, is induced, on behalf of the citizens of the
United States westward of Connecticut, wlio also wish to become pur-
chasers of Federal lands, to pray that the honorable the Congress will
be ]3leased to direct that a contract be made by the Ironorable the
coiiimissioners of the treasury board with your petitioner, for himself
and his associates, in all respects similar in form and matter to tlie said
grant made to Messrs. Sargent and Cutler, differing only in quantity
and place where, and, instead of two townships for the use of a uni-
versity, that one only be assigned for the benefit of an academy; that
by such transfer to your petitioner and his associates, on their comply-
ing with the terms of the sale, the fee may ]Dass of all the lands lying
within the following limits, viz; Beginning at the mouth of the Great
Miami river, thence running up the Ohio to the mouth of the Little
Miami river, thence up the main stream of the Little Miami river to
the place where a due west line, to be continued from the western
termination of the northern boundary line of the grant to Messrs. Sar-
gent, Cutler & Company shall intersect the said Little Miami river,
llience due west, continuing the said western line, to the place where
the said line shall intersect the main branch or stream of the Great
Miami river, thence down the Great Miami to the place of beginning.
[Signed] John C. Symmes.
New York, August 29, 1787.
This was the same day, as a letter of the next June
from the treasury commissioners shows, when a favorable
act of Congress was passed, in regard to contracts for
the pubHc lands. Another act, of similar character, was
passed on the twenty-third of October, authorizing the
board of treasury to contract with anyone for tracts of
not less than a million acres of western lands in a single
purchase, the front of which on the Ohio, the Wabash,
or other river, shall not exceed one-third the depth. Un-
der this, as we shall see. Judge Symmes presently sub-
mitted a second proposal. His associates in this under-
taking were a number of friends of his, mostly, if not all,
Jerseymen, and a number of whom had been fellow-
officers in the Revolution. Chiefly notable among them
was Captain Jonathan Dayton, also a delegate in Con-
gress from New Jersey, and subsequently speaker, under
the constitution, of the house of representatives, and the
gentleman from whom Dayton, Ohio, was named. He
was the principal mouthpiece of the association (called
the "East Jersey Company") in the long and complica-
ted correspondence and negotiations with Symmes which
ensued. Their scheme looked to the acquisition of two
millions of acres, which, in the imperfect knowledge then
had of the country, was supposed to be included within
the limits designated, though the survey ultimately
showed but about six hundred thousand acres there.
Symmes drew up a plan for the management and dis-
posal of the vast estate they expected to acquire, which
was approved by his associates. His petition had been,
on the second of October, as an endorsement upon it
states, referred to the board of treasury to take order.
The "board of treasury" was a small body of Govern-
•ment officials, representing the treasury department, and
entrusted with the power of disposal of the public lands,
which was afterwards vested in the Secretary of the
Treasury, and finally in the general land office. The
reference of Symmes' petition to Congress to the board
"to take order" gave them discretionary power in the
premises; and they presently agreed to negotiate the
sale to Symmes and his associates.
Meanwhile, so confident was the judge of the success
of his application, that he soon began to advertise the
lands and make conditional grants thereof. On the
twenty-sixth of November, 1787, he issued at Trenton,
in pamphlet form, "Terms of Sale and Settlement ot
Miami Lands," a sort of elaborate circular addressed "to
the respectable public." In this the advantages of the new
country are suitably set forth. The price of the lands
offered is fixed for the present at sixty-six and two-thirds
cents; but, "after the first of November next, the. price
of the lands will be one dollar per acre, and after the
first day of November next [ensuing], the price will rise
higher, if the country is settled as fast as is^xpected."
The certificates raised by this augmentation in the
price shall be applied towards the making of roads and
bridges in the purchase. One penny proclamation, or
the ninetieth part of a dollar, per acre, in specie or bills
of credit of the States of New York, New Jersey, or
Pennsylvania, must be paid by the purchaser at the time
of purchasing the land- warrant. This fee of. one penny
per acre is to defray the expense of surveying the country
into townships and lots, agreeably to the land ordinance.
And one farthing proclamation, or the three hundred and
sixtieth part of a dollar, per acre, in specifti ar paper
money aforesaid, to be paid by the purchaser to defray
the expense of printing the land-warrants, purchasing
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
41
proper books for record, accommodating and paying the
register for his services in attending to the recording of
entri-es, and other incidental charges which will necessa-
rily accrue. It was further expressly stipulated as to "al'
purchasers of lands from the said John Cleves Symmes,
within his grant from the United States, of lands lying
between the Great and Little Miami rivers, that if the
locator (purchaser) shall neglect,-for two years, after loca-
tion entered, to make a settlement on every section
which he or they may have located, or to settle some
other persons thereon, or in some station, who shall con-
tinue to improve the same for seven years, in such case
one-sixth part of every such neglected section or quarter-
part of a section, to be taken off in a regular square at
the northeast corner, shall be forfeited, and shall revert
back to the register for the time being, in trust so far as
to authorize him to grant the same gratis to any volun-
teer settler who shall first make application to the register
thereof; and the register shall proceed to make out a
deed to such volunteer settler for such forfeited sixth
part."
In this prontinciamento Symmes reserved to himself
the entire township lowest in the neck between the Ohio
and the Great Miami, and the three fractional parts of
townships north, west, and south between that and the
rivers. These he would pay for himself, and lay out "a
handsome town plat " thereon. It was here, evidently,
that the judge expected to locate the future metropolis of
the Ohio, and where, indeed, he did made his pioneer
settlement. The tract reserved included what afterwards
became Miami, Green, and Delhi townships, in Hamilton
county. He also proposed an appropriation or reserva-
tion, for the benefit of an academy or college, of one full
township, to be laid off as nearly opposite to the mouth
of the Licking river as an entire township might be
found eligible in respect to soil and situation.
Mr. Symmes likewise began the issue of certificates or
"Miami land warrants," the first of which, date of De-
cember 17, 1787, authorizing the location of six hundred
and forty acres in the Purchase, was issued to Mayor'
Stites, and seems to have been used by him "at the point
betwixt the mouth of the Little Miami and the Ohio in
the pint," in securing the tract upon which he after-
wards set down the first stakes of Columbia. Stites does
not appear in the history of the Purchase thereafter, ex-
cept as a pioneer settler and prominent citizen at Colum-
bia. He had, however, a liberal arrangement with
Symmes, by which he was entitled to locate ten thousand
acres in the Purchase, as near as might be about the
mouth of the Little Miami. These, however, as we shall
see, he was in imminent danger of losing some time after,
by the determined effort made to compel Symmes to fix
his eastern boundary upon a line drawn northeastward
from a point on the Ohio twenty miles above the mouth
of the Great Miami.
On the eleventh of June following Symmes addressed
another letter to the board of treasury, reciting the diffi-
cultier ^^ had experienced in arranging credits with "the
late Jersey line" — the soldiers of the New Jersey contin-
gent in the war of the Revolution — in regard to their
bounty lands, so- as to help his first payment on the ex-
pected contract for the Purchase, and asking a new con-
tract "for a part of the same lands of one million of acres
fronting on the Ohio and extending inland from the Ohio
between the Great Miami river and the Little Miami
river, the whole breadth of the country from river to
river, so far as to include on an east and west rear line
one million acres, exclusive of the five reserved sections
in every township, as directed in the ordinance of the
twentieth of May, 1785, and that the present grant be
made on the principles laid down by the resolution of
Congress of the twenty-third of October last." The
board now declined to agree to these boundaries, and pro-
posed the inclusion of a million of acres within confines
starting from a point on the Ohio river twenty miles above
the mouth of the Great Miami, along the courses of the
former and following the latter, an east and west line on the
north, and a line running nearly parallel with the general
direction of the Miami to the place of beginning. This
point was within the present limits of Cincinnati. Aline
drawn northwestward from it would leave Stites and other
purchasers (for Symmes continued to sell the lands be-
tween the Little Miami and that line) outside of the Pur-
chase. More than three years afterwards — July 19, 1791
— Governor St. Clair issued his proclamation warning
against such purchases, and threatening ejection by the
officers of the United States, at the same time defining
the boundaries of the Purchase pretty nearly as in the
letter of the treasury board. Much annoyance was
caused to Symmes, and much trouble and alarm to the
settlers of Columbia and elsewhere on the west side of
the Little Miami, by this uncertainty as to their lands;
but the patent finally granted and fixing the Miamis as
the eastern and western limits of the Purchase, quieted
and confirmed their titles.
Shortly after the action of the board of treasury agree-
ing to the proposed Miami purchase, Thomas Hutchins,
then geographer of the United States, offered Israel Lud-
low, a young surveyor from New Jersey, an appointment
to survey the boundary of the tract, "being assured," he
wrote, "of your abilities, diligence, and integrity." He
was also commissioned to survey the Ohio company's
purchase, and received an order from the Secretary of
War on the frontier posts for sufificient troops to serve as
an escort into the wilderness. He accepted the appoint-
ment, and made repeated application for escorts to Major
Zeigler and Generals Harmar and St. Clair; but without
success, on account of the weakness of the garrisons,
until October 21, 1791, when St. Clair gave him a ser-
geant and fifteen men. With these he accomphshed the
survey of the Ohio company's boundaries, but, he writes,
"with the loss of six of the escort, and leaving in the
woods all my pack-horses and their equipage, and being
obliged to make a raft of logs to descend the Ohio as far
as Limestone, from opposite the mouth of the Great
Sandy river." At Fort Washington he now applied to
Major Zeigler, commandant, for an escort on the Miami
survey, but could get none, and undertook the work, in
the winter of 1791-2, with sin:iply the protection of three
woodsmen to serve as spies and give notice of approach-
\ ("
42
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
ing danger. He Vent with these a hundred miles up the
Great Miami, through deep snow and severely cold
weather, during which his men had their feet frozen and
were unable to hunt for the supply of the expedition;
and he consequently returned. When the season moder-
ated, he made another attempt to run the boundaries,
with but three armed men in the party; but was fright-
ened back by signs of Indians, and was again denied an
escort at J'ort Washington. By May 5, 1792, Ludlow
could only report to the Government that "I now have
the satisfaction to present to you the whole of the survey
of the Ohio and part of the Miami purchases executed
agreeably to instructions." The full commission was,
however, finally executed by Colonel Ludlow, and in good
shape. He was subsequently the surveyor of the original
site of Cincinnati, in which he was also a joint proprietor.
Messrs. Dayton and Marsh, representing the Synimes
company, concluded a contract with the treasury com-
missioners May 15, 1788, for two millions of acres, in
two separate and equal tracts. The judge in July made
up his mind to take but one million-acre tract, and, after
his departure for the west, Dayton and Marsh arranged
a new contract with the Government for that amount of
land between the Miamis, but its eastern boundary begin-
ning at a Hne twenty miles up the Ohio from the mouth
of the Great Miami. This agreement seems now absurd,
in the light of knowledge that less than six hundred thou-
sand acres are included in the entire tract between the
rivers south of a line from the headwaters of the Little
Miami due west to the other stream, and that, between
the boundaries now agreed upon, less than half the
quantity of land was enclosed that had been solemnly
bargained for.
On the fourteenth of July, 1788, Judge Symmes again
addressed the treasury board, expressing his desire "to
adhere to the banks of both Miamis in the boundaries
of the one million acres," but asked permission to enter
the tract with a party of settlers and cause a survey to be
made and an accurate map of the country to be prepared,
"on which you may delineate your pleasure. Until we
have better knowledge," he adds, reasonably enough, "I
conceive any further stipulations of boundaries would be
rather premature." The board made no concession,
however, and withheld the desired permission for him to
enter upon the premises. Confiding in the ultimate decis-
ions of Congress, he nevertheless, as Stites and other
purchasers had already started for the Miamis, and part
of his own following had been equipped and had crossed
the Delaware en route westward, set out with a consider-
able caravan, reached Pittsburgh August 20th, and the
mouth of the Great Miami on the twenty-second of Sep-
tember. From here he explored the country as far up as
the north side of the fifth range of townships, and re-
turned to Limestone, from which he did not set out with
his party to. make permanent settlement at North Bend
until the twenty-ninth of the next January.
Limestone was still a small place. Only three years
before. General Buder, one of the commissioners to ne-
gotiate treaties with the Indian tribes, passed it with a
large party, and thus recorded his impressions in his diary.
This I think to be a settlement of fine land, and believe the people
will do very well, provided they have peace. There are about fifteen
good cabins for families, kitchens, etc., included, and twenty-five houses.
Here is a small creek, and from here a good wagon-road to Lexington
and other places. The people seem determined to defend themselves;
every man walks with his rifle in his hand, so enured are they to alarm.
They are very civil, but possess that roughness of manner so univer-
sally attendant on seclusion from general society.
Meanwhile, though, the settlement of Columbia had
been made by Major Stites and others, and surveying
parties sent out by Symmes to begin the survey of the
proposed Purchase, a party on each of the Miamis, each
to move north to points sixty miles in a straight line from
the Ohio. The Losantiville (Cincinnati) colony had also
made its settlement opposite the mouth of the Licking.
The occupation of the Purchase had fully begun. Con-
gress took alarm at the departure of Symmes before the
closing of the business, fearing that he would get posses-
sion of the tract and set the Government at defiance.
Judge Burnet, in his Notes on the settlement of the
Northwestern Territory, says a resolution was offered in
the body, ordering Colonel Harmar to dispossess him and
pay the expenses of any military operations thus made nec-
essary, out of the moneys deposited for his first payment;
but that, through the representations of Dr. Boudinot and
Captain Dayfon, two of his associates and also members of
Congress, the message was withdrawn. Certain it is, a reso-
lution was moved in Congress a month after Symmes left,
repealing the several acts of the previous October, by which
the board of treasury was authorized to contract for the
sale of western territory. It was referred to a commit-
tee, who consented to waive their report of the resolu-
tion back with recommendation of its passage, upon the
intercession of the gentlemen named, together with Dan-
iel Marsh, also of the East Jersey association. These
persons urged its suppression mainly upon the ground
that Judge Symmes, before departure, had completed
his first payment in certificates and "army rights," and
that in accepting it the United States were as firmly
bound as if a contract had been signed. They agreed,
in consideration of the failure to report the resolution, to
sign a contract with the Government for the Purchase,
with the limits prescribed by the board in the letter of
June 1 6th. Symmes had given Marsh a power of attorney
at Pittsburgh, and, although technical objection was made
to it, a tripartite contract was finally concluded October 15,
1 788,* after many difficulties and disputes with the treasu-
ry board, between the board representing the Government
as party of the first part, Dayton and Marsh as party of
the second, and Symmes and his associates as party of
the third part, for one million of acres in the Miami
country, to be bounded as insisted upon by the commis-
sioners and agreed to by Dayton, Boudinot, and Marsh.
The contract stipulated that if Symmes, of the party of
the third part, should neglect or refuse to execute it, the
same should inure to the benefit of the parties of the
second part, who, in that case, covenanted to perfect it
themselves. It was further stipulated that the association
should have the privilege of selling and locating as much
* This instrument was not entered in the official records of Hamilton
county until March 17, 1821.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
43
of the remainder of the Purchase as they chose to take
at the contract price — sixty-six and two-thirds cents per
acre, payable in cirtificates of Federal indebtedness.
These could then be bought for five shillings on the
pound, Pennsylvania currency — so that the original cash
price of lands in the Miami Purchase, paid by Syrames &
Company was but fifteen pence, or sixteen and two-
thirds cents per acre. In pursuance of this provision
the community at large was publicly invited to become
associated with the company and avail themselves of this
privilege. The terms of this offer bore a general and in
some respects close resemblance to the original "Terms of
Sale and Settlement," issued at Trenton in November,
1787. To induce them to do so without loss of time,
it was stipulated that after the first of May then ensuing
the price of the land should be one dollar "proclamation
money," but that it would be still further increased as
the settlement of the country would justify. It was ex-
pressly promised that all moneys received on those sales,
above the Congress price, should be deposited with the
register and expended in opening roads and erecting
bridges for the benefit of the settlements. It was also
stipulated that a register should be appointed by the as-
sociates to superintend the location of the land and to
receive and apply the surplus money to those purposes.
This provision, however, was neglected by the company,
Mr. Symmes himself acting practically as register, receiv-
ing and using all moneys paid in after as well as before
the raising of the price. ' The consideration money was
to be paid to the parties of the second and third parts in
six semi-annual equal instalments, and they were to re-
ceive patents for proportionate parts of the lands. Pur-
chasers could pay one-seventh of the amount in military
land warrants, issued by the Government to the Revolu-
tionary officers and soldiers; and, for the convenience of
those who wished to do so, Colonel Dayton was appointed
to receive such payments. Subsequently the third entire
range of townships in the Purchase was conveyed to Day-
ton, in trust for persons holding these warrants; it hence
was called the Military range. It is now in Butler
and Warren counties. Every locator was required to
place himself or some other person on the land he
purchased, within two years from entering his location,
or in some station of defence, beginning improvement
on every tract if it could be done with safety, and con-
tinuing the improvement seven years, if not disturbed by
Indians, on penalty of forfeiture of one-sixth of each
tract. This fractional part the register was to lay off at
the northeast corner in a regular square, and grant to any
settler who should first apply and perform the require-
ments. The object of this was to secure actual inhabi-
tants, who would open up the country, and to make sure
of at least one bona fide settler on each section. The
tract thus held in abeyance was commonly called the
"forfeiture." No register, as before noted, was appointed,
though the forfeiture tracts were reserved ; and the busi-
ness was otherwise somewhat loosely conducted, so that
it is considered doubtful whether any "forfeiture" title in
the purchase was free from incumbrance; but when they
came into litigation, the courts and juries took liberal
views of the equities of the case and sustained the settlers.
Symmes and his associates were to survey the Purchase
at their own expense, and adopted a plan which was more
economical than accurate. The principal surveyor — at
first John Filson, and, after his death at the hands of the
Indians, Colonel Israel Ludlow — was instructed to run a
line east and west from one Miami river to the other,
sufficiently north to avoid the bends of the Ohio, for a "
base line, and to plant stakes every mile. The assistant
surveyors were to run meridian lines by compass from
each of these stakes, and plant a stake at the end of each
mile for a section corner. Purchasers were then allowed
to complete surveys by running east and west lines be-
tween the corners, at their own expense. This was, of
course, a very defective plan, and it resulted that scarcely
two sections could be found in the purchase of the same
shape or of equal contents. Some were too narrow,
others too wide. It was doubted whether there was one
in the entire tract of which the corresponding corners,
either on the north or south side, were in the same east
and west line. In some instances, says Judge Burnet,
the corner on one meridian would prove to be ten,
twenty, and sometimes thirty rods north or south of the
corresponding corner on the other meridian. This irreg-
ularity was very much the subject of complaint. Three
or four years afterward, when many of the sections had
been occupied and improved. Judge Symmes adopted a
plan to remove the difficulty, which rather increased it.
He caused the meridian line, part of which formed the
eastern boundary of the site of old Cincinnati, to be re-
measured, and new stakes to be set at the terminus of
each mile. This line he then declared to be the stand-
ard, and directed purchasers and settlers to run their
lines anew east and west from these stakes, and re-estab-
lish their corners at the points of intersection on the me-
ridians. This plan, had it been persisted in, would have
changed every original corner in the purchase. Some of
the land owners followed the judge's directions, and
bounded their possessions by the new lines thus estab-
lished. Much confusion and trouble resulted; but not
for a great while, since a decision was presently obtained
from the supreme court of the State, which confirmed
the old corners on the ground that the original surveys
had been made under authority of an act of Congress
and accepted at the treasury department, and were there-
fore final and obligatory, and not to be disturbed by
either party. The territorial lines of many parts of Ham-
ilton county therefore remain to this day exceedingly un-
even. The county maps show its northern line, for ex-
ample, about as angular, in places, as a Virginia rail fence.
About the same time a similar difficulty arose as to
the boundaries of the Military range; but in this case also
the original surveys were confirmed by the supreme court.
In the former case, as some sections were too large
and others too small. Judge Symmes adopted a rule that
he would pay the purchasers four dollars an acre for the
amount that their land was short of the quantity bar-
gained for, and require the payment of a like sum per
acre for those who had secured too much by the incor-
rect surveys. Notwithstanding all his eflbrts to obviate
44
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
the dififiiculties, however, they continued to multiply, re-
sulting in much litigation, kept up in some cases even
after the decision of the supreme court.
The contract of October, 1788, required the payment
of the purchase money to be completed within three
years after the boundary lines of the entire tract had been
surveyed and plainly marked by the geographer of the
United States or some other person appointed for the
purpose. The last instalment fell due early in 1792,
when only the first and part of the second payment had
been made; and so the entire contract became liable to
forfeiture. Symmes had sold not only in the purchase
as defined by the contract, but also most of the land be-
tween his east line and the Little Miami. In the spring
of that year he petitioned Congress to allow the altera-
tion of the contract extending the eastern boundary to
that river, as originally asked. It was fortunately granted
by an act of April 12, 1792, and by this a large number
of innocent purchasers were secured in the quiet posses-
sion of their lands. It also provided for the reservation
of fifteen acres to the Government, near the first town
plat of Cincinnati, upon which Fort Washington was
afterwards built. . Judge Symmes then petitioned for a
law authorizing the President to issue to him a patent for
so much of the purchase as he had paid and could pay
for. This, too, was allowed May 5, 1792, and two years
thereafter he visited Philadelphia, then the seat of Gov-
ernment, settled with the Treasury department, found he
had paid for two hundred and forty-eight thousand five
hundred and forty acres, and received a patent signed by
President Washington and dated September 30, 1794,
for three hundred and eleven thousand si.x hundred and
eighty-two acres, which included total reservations of
sixty-three thousand one hundred and forty-two acres,
fifteen acres for Fort Washington, and all sections
or lots numbered eight, eleven, twenty-six, and twenty-
nine, for such purposes as Congress might direct. All
these, including the Fort Washington reserve, were re-
leased and put into the market by Congress in 1808.
The remainder of the original Miami Purchase under the
contract of course reverted to the Government. Sections
sixteen were also reserved for public schools, and the
equivalent of a section at or near the mouth of the Great
Miami river, probably for a fortificaton, but afterwards sold
to the Symmes' company; and one full township, to be lo-
cated as near the center of the tract as possible, "for the
purpose of establishing an academy and other public
schools and seminaries of learning." The boundaries of the
tract were substantially defined as the Great and Little Mi-
ami rivers, the Ohio, and a parallel of latitude to be drawn
between the two former rivers, so as to comprise three hun
dred and eleven thousand six hundred and eighty-two
acres. These enclosed, of course, all of Hamilton county
between the rivers, and parts of the present counties of
Butler and Warren to the northern boundary of the third
range of townships, on an east and west line several
miles north of the subsequent site of Lebanon. The
tracts sold by Symmes north of this line were allowed by
the Government to be regularly pre-empted and entered
at Cincinnati by the purchasers, they taking the usual
patents therefor at two dollars per acre. This re-
sult was not reached without long delay and much dif-
ficulty. Doubts of his right to sell lands so far to the
northward had previously harassed purchasers, and they
finally insisted that he should take steps for their security.
They wanted to petition Congress, but he dissuaded
them, went again to Philadelphia in the fall of 1796,
and spent the following winter and spring in efforts to
induce the Government to take his offered money and
make him a further grant in the Purchase, which would
cover his troublesome sales. The arrangement of 1792
had apparently left open the contract of 1788, as to the
remainder of the million acres bargained for; and, even
so late as 1797, Symmes and his agents continued to
offer lands in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and even the tenth
range of townships "in the Miami Purchase." Congress
finally decided, however, that the law of 1792 and the
settlement and patent of 1794 constituted a fiill adjust-
ment of his claims and a full performance by the Gov-
ernment of its obligations toward the company, and that
he had no further rights under the contract. The situa-
tion of his grantees outside the Purchase was now despe-
rate. Many had paid in full, all had in part, and most
had spent much money and labor in improvements,
which they were now liable to lose, together with their
lands. Several towns had been laid out and settled upon
this tract, mills built, orchards planted, and other im-
portant beginnings made. Of all these there was danger
the rightful proprietors would be dispossessed, without
remuneration. Congress was memorialized, and was
generous in its provisions for relief By an act passed in
1799 all persons having made written land contracts with
Symmes before Aiml ist of that year, outside his patent,
were secured preference over all other purchasers from
the Government. Two years thereafter the right of pre-
emption was extended to all purchasers from Symmes
prior to the first of January, 1800. The extension of
credit by Congress was so liberal that many were enabled
to complete their payments from the produce of the
farms; and all, it is believed, by the indulgence of the
Government from year to year, were at last made secure
in their titles.
The act of Congress March 3, 1801, provided in ef-
fect that any person who had contracted in writing, be-
fore the first of January, 1800, with Judge Symmes, or
any of his associates, or had made payment to them
for the purchase of any land between the Miami rivers,
within the limits of the survey of the Purchase made by
Ludlow, and not within the tract which Symmes had re-
ceived, his patent should be entitled to preference in
purchasing said land from the United States, at the then
fixed price of public lands, two dollars per acre. Under
another section of the act President Jefferson appointed
Messrs. John Reily and William Goforth to act with
General Findlay, receiver of public moneys at Cincin-
nati, as commissioners to hear and determine the rights
of claimants under the law. A year did not suffice for
the settlement of all claims, and by another law of May
I, 1802, the provisions of the former act were extended
twelve months longer. Mr. Reily was re-appointed com-
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
45
missioner; Dr. John Sellman was also appointed; and the
two, with General Findlay, as commissioner ex officio,
closed up the business within the year.
The following copy of the letter of transmittal ac-
companying the commission to Dr. Goforth, a well-known
member of the board, will be read here with interest:
Treasury Department, October 9, 1801.
Sir: — The President of the United States having thought proper to
appoint you a commissioner, tinder the fourtli section of an act of
Congress, passed March 3. 1801, entitled "an act giving a riglit of
pre-emption to certain persons who have contracted with John Cleves
Symmes, or liis associates, for lands lying between the Miami rivers,
in the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio," I en-
close to you, herewith, a commission for that purpose.
The duties to be performed, and the compensation to be allowed to
you therefor, being fully detailed in the act above recited, I shall only
remark that, as the commissioners will not arrive in time to admit of
the three weeks' notice required by the law, all practicable means
should be employed to apprise the parties concerned of the appoint-
ment of the commissioners, as well through the medium of the news-
paper published at Cincinnati, as by hand-bills posted up in the neigh-
boring districts. As it will be proper, however, that the commissioners
should act in concert in this, and all other matters confided to them, I
. beg leave to recommend that a meeting be immediately held for that
purpose. I am, very respectfully, sii,
Your obedient servant,
Albert Gallatin.
William Goforth, esq., at Cincinnati.
THE "college township"
also gave Judge Symmes and others much embarrassment.
He had sold all or most of the township proposed
to be reserved for academic purposes, which, originally
advertised in his "Tenns of Sale and Settlement," was
one of the best tracts in the purchase. It is now Green
township — the only regular thirty-six section township in
the county. Strictly, the Purchase was not entitled by law
to a college township, since the ordinance under which
the early sales of public lands were made only allowed it
when a purchase of two millions or more of acres was
made. When Symmes' associates and agents reduced
the Purchase to one million, he accordingly gave up
the idea of a college township, erased the entry of it
which had previously been marked out upon his map,
and sold its lands with the rest. But when the bills for
the change of boundaries and the grant of the patent
were before Congress, Dayton had secured the insertion
of a provision for such township, for "an academy, or
other school of learning, to be located within five years
in nearly the center of the patent as might be." There
was now not an entire township left unsold in the Pur-
chase. Symmes, in 1799,' offered the Government
the second township of the second fractional range;
but' that had also been sold in large part, and the
offer was rejected successively by the Federal and
Territorial Governments, the State legislature, and then
Congress again, to whoin he in turn offered it, holding
previous sales from it to be void. After the State gov-
ernment was formed Congress granted the legislature an-
other township, or thirty-six sections, from the public lands,
in lieu of one in the Purchase, which was selected by a
commission appointed in 1803, from unsold lands west
of the Great Miami. These form the pecuniary foundation
— such as it is, through mismanageinent and waste — of
Miami University, established by the legislature in 1809,
located at first by the commissioners at Lebanon, within
the Purchase, but afterwards fixed by the legislature at
the present village of Oxford, Butler county, where it
has since remained.*
The troubles of Judge Symmes concerning his Pur-
chase were endless, and embittered much of his later life.
In 1 811 his house at North Bend was burned, presum-
ably by an enemy who was angered at him for having re-
fused to vote for the incendiary for some local office. In
the destruction of this house also perished the certificates
of the original proprietors of Cincinnati, upon which the
judge had made deeds to purchasers after he was enabled
to do so by the obtainment of his patent. In some cases
they had been irregularly and fraudulently secured; in
others deeds had been made to assignees of certificates,
upon assignments asserted by the original holders to be
fraudulent. It was also important to learn whether all
deeds for lots in the town had been authorized by the
proprietors; but, whatever the facts were, the loss of
certificates, which was irreparable, shut off investigation,
and operated as a quietus for the claimants in possession.
The agitations created by the disaster, however, increased
seriously the burdens of the now aged pioneer. Four
years thereafter the enterprising adventurer and hero of
the Miami Purchase found rest in the grave, where,
After life's fitfnl fever, he sleeps well. .
CHAPTER VL
THE MIAMI IMMIGRATION.
' ' I beheld, too, in that vision
All the secrets of the future,
Of the distant days that shall be.
I beheld the westward marches
Of the unknown, crowded nations.
All the land was full of people —
Restless, struggling, toiling, striving.
Speaking many tongues, yet feeling
But one heart-beat in their bosoms.
In the woodlands rang their axes,
Smoked their towns in all the valleys,
Over all the lakes and rivers
Rushed their great canoes of thunder."
— H. W. Longfellow, "Hiawatha."
THE FIRST PARTIES TO START.
By the winter of 1788-9 there were white settlements
on all sides of the Miami Purchase, though some of
"them were distant. Pittsburgh was founded; the Ohio
company's colony was set down at Marietta; Limestone
Point, or Limestone, afterwards Maysville, was much
nearer at the eastward, and Lexington and Louisville, in
the same State, both founded already ten years or more,
lay at other points of the compass; while Detroit at the
* Almost the entire account of the contract of 1788, and the subse-
quent transactions, has been derived from Judge Burnet's interesting
and instructive Notes upon the settlement of the Northwestern Terri-
tory.
46
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
northward, Vincennes to the west, and St. Louis yet be-
yond, might be said to complete a cordon, though some-
what far away, of civilized settlement. In Kentucky,
particularly at Lexington, as we shall see more fully in
opening the history of Cincinnati, a lively interest be-
gan to be taken, in the summer and fall of 1788, in the
colonization of the fertile tract between the Miamis.
Attention was especially directed to the eligible site oppo-
site the mouth of the Licking, which many of the men
of Kentucky had seen, as they crossed the Ohio going
upon or returning from their expeditions against the
Indians. In this region the first steps were taken for the
planting of Losantiville, which became Cincinnati, the
"Queen City." So far had the project gone in early
autumn that the fifteenth of September of that year was
appointed "for a large company to meet in Lexington
and make a road from there to the mouth of the Licking,
provided Judge Symmes arrives, being daily expected."
The first organized parties for the settlement of the
Miami country, however, set out from the far east. A
feeble scatter of emigrants had come to the Purchase and
its vicinity on either side, from time to time, in the spring
and summer of 1788; none of whom, however, dared at-
tempt permanent settlement as yet, through fear of the
savages and the total want of military protection. Some
of them, on their return, remained at Limestone and
joined the early expeditions back to the Miami country.
Meanwhile the material of those expeditions was collect-
ing, under the auspices of Symmes and Stites, away in
the comparatively old districts of Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. The latter started with his party, at just what
date we know not, but probably in the early summer of
1788, and waited at Limestone until and for some time
after the arrival of Judge Symmes. The latter left New
Jersey late in July of the same year, with an imposing
train of fourteen four-horse wagons, and, with the wagons
and on horseback, sixty persons, including his own family.
He travelled leisurely across the then difficult country to
Pittsburgh, and thence to Wheeling, sending his horses
by land to the latter place from Devon's Ferry, on the Mo-
nongahela, while he embarked his people and their effects
on the river. He regretted afterwards that he had not
purchased ox-teams instead of horses, declaring that he
should have saved three hundred pounds by it. He
recommended his eastern friends proposing to immigrate
to come with oxen, "as they are cheaper by one half in
the first purchase, not so much exposed to accidents —
the Indians have never disturbed them in any instance
(except in the attack on Colerain, when the enemy took
all the cattle for the supply of their small army) — and
after long service they are still of their original value."
He was not troubled by Indians on the route, but was
delayed somewhat by heavy rains and bad roads, which
caused the breakage of several of his axles by the time
Pittsburgh was reached. He remained in that city but
two days, and pushed on to Wheeling, as before recited,
from which the party floated briskly down, the Ohio being
in flood at the time, to the infant colony at Marietta, and
thence to Limestone, at which he arrived the latter part
of September, two months from his departure from New
Jersey. This place was to be his base of operations for
some months. He paid an early visit of exploration to
the Miami country, but was doomed to weeks of weary
waiting, at first for a sufficient military escort to justify
the completion of his journey and the execution of the
Muskingum treaty pending with the Indians, which was
delayed till almost midwinter; then for supplies. He
complained bitterly of the delay of General Harmar in
sending him troops from the fort at Marietta; and when,
on the twelfth of December, Captain Kearsey reached
Limestone with a force of forty-five men, the arrival was
"much more detriment than use," as Symmes wrote,
since he was not ready to start, St. Clair not yet having
advised him of the conclusion of the treaty, and, the
troops coming to him with very limited supplies and
Harmar failing to send more, he had to feed them from
his own stores. The purchases he was compelled to
make from the surrounding country after a time were ef-
fected with difficulty and at large cost, since the "amaz-
ing emigration, " as he called it, into Kentucky had al-
most exhausted the Limestone region and put every kind
of provisions up to three times the price at Lexington.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
There had been a numerous gathering at Limestone,
waiting to go on to the Miamis. Major Stites, however,
got away the twenty-fifth of November with the surveyors
dispatched by Symmes into the Purchase, determined to
wait no longer for the beginning of his meditated settle-
ment at or near the mouth of the Little Miami. The
two or three block-houses (Fort Miami) erected by the
party, with the adjoining cabins, formed the nucleus of
Columbia, now the oldest part of Cincinnati and the old-
est white settlement in Hamilton county or anywhere in
the Purchase. A sergeant and eighteen men were pres-
ently sent to Stites. A sergeant and twelve men were
also started with a party of settlers coming down the
river for the "Old Fort" at the mouth of the Great Mi-
ami; but all these were turned back at Columbia by ice
in the river gorging it and damaging their boats, and re-
turned, discouraged but in safety, to Limestone. Just
one month after the departure of Stites's company, on
the twenty-fourth of December, the throng at Limestone
was further relieved by the exodus of the party led by
Colonel Patterson, of Lexington — which, however, was
composed much more of eastern men than of Kentuck-
ians. Their objective point was the coveted spot opposite
the debouchure of the Licking into the Ohio, to which
they moved accordingly, and successfully arrived, though
with some trouble from floating ice — probably on the
twentj'-eighth of December, 1788. The town they found-
ed here took at first the name suggested by the pedantic
Filson, who was one of the original projectors — "Losanti-
ville," a name compounded of little words from several
languages, and intended to signify "the village opposite
the mouth of the Licking river." Thus was the second
settlement in the Purchase made. The third was effect-
ed by Judge Symmes himself and the party then over
six months out from their New Jersey homes. He had
taken a house for himself and family at Limestone, ex-
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
47
pecting to be detained there until spring. He waited
vainly and long, struggling with the difficulties of subsist-
ing the troops and his following there, for a boat-load of
flour which had been ordered from up the river, and
which had been promised him by Christmas at furthest,
or for Harmar to forward supplies. But the last of Jan-
uary bringing an enormous freshet in the river, sweeping
out the ice and furnishing a current favorable for rapid
movement down the stream, he determined to tarry no
longer. This determination was hastened also by mes-
sengers from Stites, who came on foot through the wil-
, derness along the river banks, to advise him of the ex-
pressed friendship of the Indians and their eagerness to
see him. A second message of this kind led him to fear
that, if his journey were longer delayed, the savages
would retire in disgust and anger; and he decided to
leave. Collecting with much difficulty a small supply
of flour and salt, he embarked his family and furniture,
with Captain Kearsey and the residue of the force, and
committed his fortunes to the swelling waters on the
twenty-ninth day of January, 1789. Reaching Columbia,
he found it flooded, with the soldiers driven to the gar-
rets of the block-houses and finally to boats, and only
one house, built on high ground, out of water. Passing
on to Losantiville he found the people there entirely out
of the floods; but, knowing from his previous observa-
tions of the country at the mouths of the Miamis that
the land about the "Old Fort" would be flooded, he
abandoned his project of founding a city at the point
between the Great Miami and the Ohio, and, at three
o'clock in the afternoon, as he carefully notes, on the
second of February, 1789, in an inclement season, his
party stepped ashore at the site of North Bend. Im-
provement here was speedily begun; and Howe, in his
Historical Collections of Ohio, says that about the same
time another beginning was made, three miles below this
place and two from the Indiana line, on the tract which
afterwards formed part of the farm of the younger Wil-
liam Henry Harrison. This took the name of the
"Sugar Camp Settlement," and at one time, says Howe,
had as many as thirty houses. The block-house built
here was still standing in 1847, though almost a ruin.
Soon after the North Bend occupation, a site was select-
ed by Judge Symmes for another town, which was des-
tined to have a short career and a limited fame — South
Bend, at the southernmost point of the Ohio in the pur-
chase. North Bend, says Mr. Francis W. Miller, in
Cincinnati's Beginnings, obtained its appellation from
being farther to the north than any other northwardly
extending deflection of the Ohio between the Muskingum
and the Mississippi. Judge Symmes wrote in August,
1 791, that "South Bend is pretty well established," and
Mr. Miller says "the village which was started there
soon showed such signs of progress as to be considered
for a time a competitor in the race for supremacy." In
September, 1791, it had eighteen or twenty families.
The entire chain of settlements along the river, particu-
larly Columbia, Losantiville, and North Bend, received
rapid accessions of immigration. In the years 1789-90
the first -named had the largest population of any of them.
THE "stations."
At all periods of its history, the vast majority of immi-
grations to the Miami country has come in by way of the
river Ohio. In the early day there was rarely an arrival
by any other means of transportation, from the absence
or paucity and poorness of roads in the interior. It was
natural, therefore, that the settlements along the north
bank of that river should be the first made in the Pur-
chase. The policy of Judge Symmes, however, was to
disperse settlers through the entire tract. In this he dif-
fered from the Ohio company. He wrote to Dayton in
May, 1789:
At Marietta, the directors of tlie company settled tlie settlers as tliey
pleased, on the New England plan of concentrating in towns and vil-
lages, so as to gtiard against Indians. In "Miami" every purchaser
chose his ground, and converted the same into a station, village, or
town at pleasure, with nothing to anticipate but fear of the Indians.
If ten or twelve men agree to form a station, it is certainly done.
This desultory way of settling will soon carry many through the Pur-
chase, if the savages do not frustrate them. Encouragements are
given at every man's will to settlers, and they bid on each other, in or-
der to make their post the more secure."
In accordance with this wise policy, Symmes was soon
able to announce (to Dayton, April 30, 1790):
We here established three new stations some distance up in the coun-
try. One is twelve miles up the Big Miami, the second is five miles up
Mill creek, and the third is nine miles back in the country from Colum-
bia. These all flourish well.
The first of these small forts or stockades was named
"Dunlap's station," at Colerain, seventeen miles north-
west of Cincinnati, about which a good many settlers
early concentrated; the second, although at first called
by Symmes "Mill Creek station," is better known as Lud-
low's, and was at Cumminsville, within the present limits
of Cincinnati; and the third was probably " Covalt's sta-
tion." A few months later, in November, after Harmar's
defeat, Mr. Symmes writes: " But for the repulse of our
army, I should have had several new stations advanced
further into the Purchase by next spring; but I now shall
be very happy if we are able to maintain the three ad-
vanced stations."
THE SETTLEMENTS OF THE NORTH.
The next year, in September, General St. Clair, while
marching to his defeat, established Fort Hamilton on
the Great Miaini, in the Purchase, twenty-five miles from
Cincinnati, which speedily became the nucleus of a
thriving settlement, and finally gave way to the town
(now city) of Hamilton, founded in 1794. Long before
this, in June, 1789, when the Mad river region was pre-
sumed to be included in the Purchase, Major Stites and
other Columbians, arranging with Symmes for the pur-
chase of the seventh entire range of townships, drew a
superb plan for a town upon the subsequent site of Day-
ton, for which they proposed the name "Venice." The
project failed, from difficulties in obtaining title from
Symmes, and very likely also from fear of the savages.
As soon, however, as the Indian troubles were pacificated
this very desirable site at the mouth of the Mad river
was occupied by a company composed of Governor St.
Clair, General Dayton, General Wilkinson, and Colonel
Ludlow, who founded and secured a rapid early growth
for their new town of "Dayton." They had negotiated
48
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
for the land with Symmes, but were compelled, of course,
eventually to purchase from the Government, as, by the
Judge's patent of 1794, it lay far outside of his tract.
At an early day, also, Lebanon and other towns and
country settlements in the Miami country, in and out of
the Purchase, made their hopeful beginnings.
DISCOURAGEMENTS.
Thus rapidly, under the circumstances, was setting in
the tide of Miami immigration. Some of those circum.
stances were specially formidable to the rapid develop-
ment of the country. Notwithstanding the peaceful
auspices under which the first treaties and settlements
had been made, and the comparative freedom from
attack which the httle communities enjoyed for some
time, the fear of savage inroads was ever present, and
even afar off it deterred the intending immigrant from
making his venture. The fear of Indian massacre, cap-
tivity, and torture hung like a pall over the advance
guard of civilization in the Miami wilderness. This was
greatly increased by the disastrous defeats of Generals
St. Clair and Harmar, and was not entirely removed
until after the victory of Wayne at the battle of the
Fallen Timbers, and the subsequent peace of Greenville.
An era of security and peace then set in. The inhabi-
tants could now leave their fortified stations and remove
to tracts selected in the open country. Here they built
their cabins anew, and began to subdue the forest and
get in their first crops. Other immigrants rapidly arrived
on the news of apparently permanent peace, to join
them; and the wonderful growth of the region fairly
began. .
Another cause operated almost as powerfully, early in
the immigration, to deter settlement. This was the hos-
tility of the Kentucky people, who, from being warm
friends of the Miami country, had become its bitter ene-
mies, and lost no opportunity to decry it. They doubt-
less suffered "the piques of disappointment," as Symmes
put it, at seeing the rich prize of the Purchase carried off
by eastern men, after they, the leading K=ntuckians, had
fixed their longing eyes upon it. Nevertheless, many
land-jobbers from that region had bargained with the
judge for tracts of his land, and had been granted gen-
erous terms — abundant time in which to pay the fees for
surveying and registering required of land-buyers at that
time, and to make their first payments. In most cases
they utterly failed in these ; and after waiting a reason-
able length of time, their negotiations or contracts were
declared void by Mr. Symmes. They consequently took
especial pains, particularly at Limestone, where all parties
of immigrants going down the Ohio called, to discourage
settlers from locating in the purchase. Symiiies writes
to Dayton in May, 1789:
At Limestone they assert with an air of assurance that the Miami
country is depopulated, that many of the inhabitants are killed and
the settlers all fled who have escaped the tomahawk, adjuring those
bound to the falls of the Ohio not to call at the Miamis, for that they
would certainly be destroyed by the Indians. With these falsehoods
they have terrified about thirty families, which had come down the
river with a design of settling at Miami, and prevailed with them to
land at Limestone and go into Kentucky. Nevertheless, [added the
stout-hearted pioneer] every week, almost every day, some people
arrive at one or other of our towns, and become purchasers and set-
tlers. . . Many persons who have been with us, made pur-
chases, built houses, and are fully satisfied and much pleased with the
country, go back and get their families.
But later the feeling in Kentucky seems to have
changed, or the disappointed and pestilent landsharks
there had lost their influence; for a large immigration
from that very region northward to the Miami valley was
promised. Judge Symmes wrote November 4, 1790:
Never had been finer prospects of speedy sales and settlement of
lands in the Purchase, than were about the time the army marched to
Harmar's defeat. Great numbers were arranging their business to
emigrate from Kentucky and the Pittsburgh country: but the strokes
our army has got seem to fall like a blight upon the prospect, and for
the present seem to' appall every countenance.
Still another source of discouragement was found in
1 79 1, in the arbitrary conduct of Governor St. Clair to-
wards Judge Symmes, and of the governor and the
mihtary towards the citizens of Cincinnati and the pur-
chasers of lands in the southeast corner and elsewhere
in the Purchase. On the twelfth and fourteenth of July
in that year St. Clair addressed somewhat dictatorial let-
ters to the judge, on the subject of his continued sales
of lands between the Little Miami and the new hne es-
tablished by the Treasury board as the eastern boundary
of the Purchase, and on the nineteenth issued the proc-
lamation of warning and threat mentioned in our Chap-
ter V. Mr. Symmes wrote :
EN'ery person must admit that the Governor has treated me and the
settlers in a most cruel manner.
He also writes of the proclamation, which seems to
have been preceded or followed by another placing Cin -
cinnati, or some part of it outside of the fort, under
martial law:
The Governor's proclamations have convulsed these settlements be-
yond your conception, sir, not only with regard to the limits of the
Purchase, but also with respect to his putting part of the town of Cin-
cinnati under military government.
The governor had shortly before summarily arrested a
respectable setrter from New England, named Knoles
Shaw, although he lived beyond the limits of martial
law, as prescribed by the proclamation, put him in irons,
as the jadge was "credibly informed," and finally, with-
out hearing before judge or jury, exiled him and his
family from the territory, while his house had been burned
by the troops, under St. Clair's orders. The charges
against him related to the purchase of some articles of
soldiers' uniform and the advising soldiers to desert ; but
they rested solely upon the assertion of a soldier who
deserted and was retaken, against whom Mr. Shaw
stoutly asserted his innocence, and they wer,e not, even
if fully substantiated, such as called for the severe penal-
ties inflicted, had the governor legal power to inflict
theni at discretion. Some of the military oflScers, par-
taking of St. Clair's spirit, had been guilty of other high-
handed and unwarranted acts. One Captain Armstrong,
commanding at Fort Hamilton, for example, ordered out
of the Purchase some of the settlers at Dunlap's station,
and threatened to eject them vi et armis if they did not
go. Previously, under Harmar's command at Fort
Washington, the regular officers at the fort committed
"many other acts of a despotic complexion," "beating
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
49
and imprisoning citizens at tiieir pleasure," writes Symraes.
When, late in the same year, the defeat of St. Clair by
the Indians was added to the disastrous repulse of Har-
mar, the combined discouragements certainly looked as
if the Purchase would be ruined. Symmes wrote to
Dayton :
I expect, sir, that the late defeat will entirely discourage emigration
to the Purchase from Jersey for a long time. Indeed, it seems that we
are never to have matters right. What from the succeeding defeats of
our army, and the Governor's arbitrary conduct towards the settlers^
still more discouraging at the time than even the defeats, many settlers
became very indifferent in their attachment to the Purchase, and num-
bers had left it on accoimt of the Governor's conduct before his unpar-
alleled defeat.
Yet the elasticity of the indomitable spirit of the
pioneers and their leaders rebounded from all depres-
sions, and the immigration, after a period of relapse, went
bravely on. It is estimated that there were two thou-
sand white persons already in the Miami country in 1790,
and that ten years thereafter the number had jumped to
fifteen thousand. In 1810 Hamilton county alone had
fifteen thousand two hundred and four, and the entire
Miaini country about seventy thousand, or one-seventh of
the whole population then in the State. By August,
1815, it was judged by Dr. Drake that one hundred thou-
sand at least were in the same region, or twenty-five per
square mile, scattered over about four thousand square
miles. It was a remarkable growth for the first quarter
of a century.
The expectations entertained of the whole Ohio coun-
try, long before it was permanently settled, are well shown
by an official communication addressed in 1770 to the
Earl of Hillsborough, then attached to the British govern-
ment as Secretary of State for the North American De-
partment, in which the following passage occurs:
No part of North America will require less encouragement for the
production of naval stores and raw materials for manufactories in
Europe, and for supplying the West India islands with lumber, provi-
sions, etc., than the country of the Ohio.
The writer then gives six excellent reasons for the faith
that is in him, with observations that involve many com-
pliments to and a high appreciation, of the beautiful
fertile land watered by the Ohio and its tributaries.
THE MIAMI COUNTRY.
It was a beautiful land to which the Miami immigra-
tion was invited —
A wilderness of sweets ; for Nature here
Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will
Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet,
Wild above rule or art ; the gentle gales.
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils.
Judge Symmes had called it, with tolerably clear pre-
science, "a country that may one day prove the brightest
jewel in the regalia of the nation." The forest was lux-
uriant, and fertile in native fruit products. The fine bot-
tom lands in the valleys had been cultivated by the sav-
ages, and by the Mound Builders before them, for untold
centuries, and were found by the early settlers as mellow
as ash heaps, and with their fertility unimpaired by long
culture, much less exhausted. Said Symmes to Dayton,
in a letter from North Bend, May 27, 1789: "The coun-
try is healthy, and looks like a mere meadow for many
miles together in some places." The "Turkey Bottom,"
still so-called, a clearing of about six hundred and forty
acres, or a "section," made ready to the hand of civiliza-
tion, a mile and a half above the mouth of the Little
Miami, on the east side of the Purchase, with the produce
of soiTie smaller lots near Columbia, furnished the entire
supply of corn for that hamlet and for Cincinnati during
their first year. This tract, like many others in the val-
leys, was extremely fertile. Benjamin Randolph, one of
the occupants, planted a single acre of corn upon it,
which he had no time to hoe, hastening back to New
Jersey upon some errand of affection or business; and
when he came back in the fall, he found that his neglect-
ed acre had one hundred bushels of excellent maize ready
for him to husk. From nine acres of this tract, the tra-
dition goes, the enormous crop of nine hundred and
sixty-three bushels was gathered the very first season.
Oliver M. Spencer, one of the earliest residents at this
corner of the Purchase, thus pleasantly records his im-
pressions of the Miami country in the primitive time:
The winter of 1791-92 was followed by an early and delightful
spring ; indeed, I have often thought that our first Western winters
were much milder, our springs earlier, and our autumns longer than
they now are. On the last of February some of the trees were putting
forth their foliage ; in iVIarch the redbud, the hawthorn, and the dog-
wood, in full bloom, checkered the hills, displaying their beautiful col-
ors of rose and lily ; and in April the ground was covered with May-
apple, bloodroot, ginseng, violets, and a great variety of herbs and
flowers. Flocks of paroquets were seen, decked in their rich plumage
of green and gold. Birds of various species and every hue, were flit-
ting from tree to tree, and the beautiful redbird and the untaught song-
ster of the west made the woods vocal with their melody. Now might
be heard the plaintive wail of the dove, and now the rumbling drum of
the partridge or the loud gobble of the turkey. Here miglit be seen
the clumsy bear, doggedly moving off; or, urged by pursuit into a la-
boring gallop, retreating to his citadel in the top of some lofty tree ; or,
approached suddenly, raising himself erect in the attitude of defence,
facing his enemy and waiting his approach ; — there the timid deer,
watchfully resting or cautiously feeding, or, aroused from his thicket,
gracefully bounding off, then stopping, erecting his stately head for a
moment, gazing around, or snuffing the air to ascertain his enemy, in-
stantly springing off, clearing logs and bushes at a bound, and soon
distancing his pursuers. It seemed an earthly paradise ; and, but for
apprehension of the wily copperhead, which lay silently coiled among
the leaves or beneath the plants, waiting to strike his victim ; the hor-
rid rattlesnake, which, more chivalrous, however, with head erect
amidst its ample folds, prepared to dart upon his foe, generously with
the loud noise of his rattle apprised him of danger ; and the still more
fearful and insidious savage, who, crawling upon the ground or noise-
lessly approaching behind trees or thickets, sped the deadly shaft or
fatal bullet, you might have fancied you were in the confines of Eden or
the borders of Elysium.
Many, notwithstanding these drawbacks, were the
charms, attractions, and delights of the Miami country.
The immigration thereto, as we shall now see, was every
way worthy of it.
5°
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
CHAPTER VII.
THE MIAMESE.
I hear the tread of pioneers,
Of nations yet to be ;
The first low wash of waves, where soon
Shall roll a human sea.
The elements of empire here
Are plastic yet and w.arm.
And the chaos of a mighty world
Is rounding into form.
— J. G. Whittier.
"The Miamese (so we call ourselves)," wrote Symmes
to Dayton in 1789. They were the noble men and
women of the earliest Miami immigration. Very fortun-
ate was the Purchase, from the beginning, in the charac-
ter of its settlers. The general expression of those who
met them personally, or have known them as represented
in their descendants, concurs with thetestimony of Mr. F.
W. Miller, in his valuable work on Cincinnati's Beginnings :
Whoever traces his lineage up to the early emigrants to the Miami
Purchase comes of a stock which may be extolled on grounds that will
bear scrutiny. Of course, those who were the first to seek homes in
this section of the country, while yet in its primitive condition, were not
so self-sacrificing as to suppose they were coming to a field which was
likely to prove ungrateful to the laborer's toil. On the contrary, the
idea was universally entertained that the field was one of great promise'
Still, the promise was not of a nature to attract, to any considerable
e.xtent, a kind of adventurers who abound in some of our new settle-
ments nowadays — people who come merely with a view of making a
sudden impact on some oleaginous deposit, and, in the pursuit of their
object, are usually more or less affected with an apprehension of eon.
tingencies which may render an expeditious change of their location
desirable or necessary within a brief period, and such like carpet-bag-
gers of the worst description. The early emigrant hither sought here a
permanent abode, looking forward to a time when he might expect to
repose in peace and plenty under his own vine and fig-tree, yet well
aware that there was a great preliminary work to be performed — the
work of reclaiming a wilderness , and naturally a goodly portion of the
first-comer's were such as came with characters and capacities adapted
to the task which they saw before them. Moreover, those who pro-
jected and managed the commencement of the civilizing process in this
quarter were persons who could have given, as well as any Sir 'Wise"
acre, the answer to the question, "'What constitutes a State?"
The late E. D. Mansfield, in his Life of his brother-in-
law. Dr. Daniel Drake, published in 1855, gives yet more
glowing and eloquent testimony to the valor and virtues
of the Ohio pioneers:
The settlement of the Ohio valley was attended by many circum-
stances which gave it pecuhar interest. Its beginning was the first hui^
■ of the Revolution. Its growth has been more rapid than that of any
modern colony. In a period of little more than half a century, its
strength and magnitude exceed the limits of many distinguished nations
Such results could not have been produced without efficient causes. It
is not enough to account for them by referring to a mild climate, fer-
tile soil, flowing rivers, or even good government. These are important.
But a more direct one is found in the character and labors of its early
citizens ; for in man, at least, consists the life and glory of every State.
This is strikingly true of the States and institutions which have gone
up on the banks of the Ohio. The first settlers had no such doubtful
origin as the fabled Romulus, and imbibed no such savage spirit as he
received from the sucklings of a wolf. They were civilized — derived
from a race historically bold and energetic ; had naturally received an
elementary, and in some instances a superior, education ; and were
bred to free thought and brave actions in the great and memorable
school of the American Revolution. If not actors, they were the chil-
dren of those who were actors in its dangers and sufferings. These
settlers came to a country magnificent in extent and opulent in all the
wealth of nature. But it was nature in her ruggedness. All was wild
and savage. The wilderness before them presented only a field of bat-
tle or of labor. The Indian must be subdued, the mighty forest leveled,
the soil in its wide extent upturned, and from every quarter of the globe
must be transplanted the seeds, the plants, and all the contrivances o
life which, in other lands, had required ages to obtain. In the midst of
these physical necessities and of that progress which consists in con-
quest and culture, there were other and higher works to be performed.
Social institutions must be founded, laws must be adapted to the
new society, schools established, churches built up, science culti-
vated, and, as the structure of the State arose upon these solid columns,
it must receive the finish of the fine arts and the polish of letters.
The largest part of this mighty fabric was the work of the first settlers
on the Ohio — a work accomplished within the period of time allotted
by Providence to the life of man. If, in after ages, history shall seek
a suitable acknowledgment of their merits, it will be found in the sim-
ple record that their characters and labors were equal to the task they
had to perform. Theirs was a noble work, nobly done.
It is true that the lives of these men were attended by all the common
motives and common passions of human nature ; but these motives and
passions were humbled by the greatness of the result, and even co.m-
mon pursuits rendered interesting by the air of wildness and adventure
which is found in all the paths of the pioneer. There were among
them, too, men of great strength and intellect, of acute powers, and of
a freshness and originality of genius which we seek in vain among the
members of conventional society.
These men were as varied in their characters and pursuits as the parts
they had to perform in the great action before them. Some were sol-
diers in the long battle against the Indians ; some were huntsmen, like
- Boone and Kenton, thirsting for fresh adventures ; some were plain
farmers, who came with wives and children, sharing fully in their toils
and dangers; some lawyers and jurists, who early participated in coun-
cil and legislation ; and with them all, the doctor, the clergyman, and
even the schoolmaster, was found in the earliest settlements. In a few
years others came, whose names will long be remembered in any true
account (if any such shall ever be written) of the science and literature
of America. They gave to the strong but rude body of society here its
earliest culture, in a higher knowledge and purer spirit.
THE ELEMENTS.
It was a hopeful mixture of elements and stocks in
this part of the valley of the Ohio. Various States and
nationalities had their representatives here, and some of
the "crosses" of blood were fortunate for the history of
their succeeding generations. New Jersey, at first and
later, contributed such representative men as Judges
Symmes and Burnet; New England appeared by her dis-
tinguished son, Jared Mansfield, and by others before
and after him; Pennsylvania sent citizens of the mental
and moral stature of Jeremiah Morrow, Judge Dunlavy,
and Major Stites; the Old Dominion had worthy sons
among the pioneers in the persons of William H. Harri-
son, William McMillan, and others; while Kentucky
spared to the rising young empire beyond its borders a
few noted and useful citizens like Colonel Robert Patter-
son, one of the original proprietors of Cincinnati for a
time, and later and more permanently, the Rev. James
Kemper, one of the founders of Lane seminary. In the
one settlement of Columbia, among its founders or very
early settlers were not only Stites and Dunlavy, but the
Rev. John Smith, afterwards United States Senator, Col-
onels Spencer and Brown, Judges Goforth and Foster,
Majors Kibby and Gam, Captain Flinn, Messrs. Jacob
White and John Reiley, and others equally worthy of
mention — all of them men of energy and enterprise, and
most of whom were then or subsequently distinguished.
The letters interchanged by Symnies and his associates
of the East Jersey Company show that many people of
the best class, as Senator Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia,
the Rev. Dr. David Jones, of Pennsylvania, and others,
were inquiring with a view to purchase or settlement in
the new country. Those who actually did so, as the
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
SI
event has proved, were the very sort of persons, in the
words of Judge Symmes himself, already quoted, "to re-
claim from savage men and beasts a country that may one
day prove the brightest jewel in the regalia of the nation."
In much of the material of the succeeding immigration
the purchase was equally fortunate. Dr. Drake, a care-
ful and conscientious writer, was able to say in 1815:
"The people of the Miami country may in particular be
characterized as industrious, frugal, temperate, patriotic,
and religious; with as much intelligence as, and more
enterprise than, the families from which they were de-
tached."
Such were the "Miamese," the pioneers of one of the
grandest armies the earth ever knew, an army whose hosts
are still sweeping irresistibly on, and which now, after
more than ninety years, has hardly yet fully occupied the
country it has won. It was the army of peace and civiliza-
tion, that came, not to conquer an enemy with blood and
carnage and ruin, but to subdue a wilderness by patient
toil, to make the wild valleys and hills to blossom as the
rose, to sweep away the forest, till the prairie's pregnant
soil, make fertile fields, and hew out homes, which were
to become the abodes of happiness and plenty. The
pioneers were the valiant vanguard of such an army as
this. They came not, as has already been suggested, to
enjoy a life of lotus-eating and ease. They could admire
the pristine beauty of the scenes that unveiled before
them; they could enjoy the vernal green of the great forest
and the loveliness of all the works of nature spread so lav-
ishly and beautifully about them; they could look forward
with happy anticipation to the life they were to lead in
hte midst of all this beauty, and to the rich reward that
would be theirs from the cultivation of the mellow, fer-
tile soil — but they had, first of all things, to work. The
seed-time comes before the harvest, in other fields than
that of agriculture.
THE DANGERS
to which these pioneers were exposed were serious. The
Indians, notwithstanding their peaceful attitude at first,
could not be trusted, and, as will be detailed in the next
chapter, often visited the early settlements with devasta-
tion and slaughter. The larger wild beasts were often a
cause of dread, and the smaller were a source of constant
and great annoyance. Added to these was the liability,
always great in a new country, to sickness. In the midst
of all the loveliness of the surroundings, there was a
sense of lonehness that could not be dispelled; and this
was a far greater trial to the men and women who first
dwelt in the western country than is generally imagined.
The deep-seated, constantly recurring feehng of isolation
made many stout hearts turn back to the older settle-
ments and to the abodes of comfort, the companionship
and sociability they had left in the Atlantic States or in
the Old World.
PRIMITIVE POVERTY.
Many of the Miamese arrived at their new homes with
but little with which to begin the battle of life. They
had brave hearts and strong arms, however; and they
were possessed of invincible determination. Frequently
they came on alone, to make a beginning; and, this hav-
ing been accompHshed, would return to their old homes
for their wives and children. It was hard work, too, get-
ting into the country. On this side of Redstone and
Wheeling there were for a long time no roads westward,
and the flat- or keel-boats used in floating down the Ohio
were so crowded with wagons, horses, cows, pigs, and
other live stock, with provisions, and with the emigrant's
"plunder," that there was scarcely room for a human
being to sit, stand, or sleep. There was much inevitable
exposure to the weather and many dangers from ice,
snags, and other perils of the stream.
THE BEGINNINGS.
The first thing to be done, after a temporary shelter
from the rain or snow had been provided, was to prepare a
little spot of ground for some crop, usually corn. This was
done by girdling the trees, clearing away the underbrush,
if there chanced to be any, and sweeping the surface
with fire. Ten, fifteen, twenty, or even thirty acres of
land, by a vigorous arm, might thus be prepared and
planted the first season. In autumn the crop would be
gathered carefully and garnered with the least possible
waste, for it was the food supply of the pioneer and his
family, and life itself depended, in part, upon its preserva-
tion. • Their table was still largely furnished, however,
from the products of the chase, and supplies of the
minor articles of food, of salt, etc., were often only to be
obtained at a distance. In this respect the settlers in the
southern part of the Purchase were more favored than
those in the interior, since merchants were in all their
towns almost from the beginnmg, and with stocks pretty
weH supplied. By January, 1796, Judge Symmes wrote,
"we have twenty or more merchants in Cincinnati." At
first there was much difficulty in getting grain ground, as it
had to be done often at a great distance, and in a clumsy
and rude way by floating mills, whose wheels were turned
by the current of a stream or by horse-power. Some had •
hominy hand-mills at home, or grated the grain or
pounded it into the semblance of meal or flour with an
extemporized pestle. In default of cultivated breadstuff's,
as sometimes happened, certain roots of wild grasses and
plants served for food. This was particularly true of the
beargrass, which grew abundantly on the Turkey bottom
and elsewhere in similar places. Its bulbous roots were
gathered by the women, washed, dried on smooth boards,
and pounded into a kind of flour, from which bread and
other preparations were made. Many families at Colum-
bia, at one time of scarcity, lived on this food. Some-
times even this was wanting. One person, who was a
boy in the first days of Columbia, long afterward averred
that he had subsisted for three days together upon noth-
ing more than a pint of parched corn. Crops were liable
to be damaged or destroyed, if near a stream, by its over-
flow; and sometimes serious inconvenience to the settler
and his family resulted. It was hard to keep one's
horses, and most other portable property, from being
stolen by the Indians; and from this fact, as late as 1792,
according to a note in one of Judge Symmes' letters,
"more than half the inhabitants were obliged to raise
52
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
their corn by the hoe, without the aid of ploughs." The
redskins commonly refused, however, to meddle with the
slow ox.
While the first crop was growing, the settler busied
himself with the building of his cabin, which must serve
as shelter from the coming storms of winter and from
the ravages of wild animals, and, possibly, as a place of
refuge from the savage. If he was completely isolated
from his fellows, his lot in this was apt to be hard, for
without assistance he could construct only a poor sort of
habitation. In such cases the cabin was generally made
of light logs or poles, and was laid up roughly, only to
answer the temporary purpose of shelter, until others had
come into the neighborhood, by whose help a more solid
structure could be built. In the Miami country, how-
ever, as has been observed, the plan at first was to gather
in small clusters of population at fortified stations, where
sufficient help \yas always available. Assistance was
readily gi-'en one pioneer by others, whether near or far
removed, within a radius of many miles. The usual plan
of erecting a log cabin was through such union of labor.
The site of a cabin, home was generally selected with
reference to a good water supply, often by a stream or
never-failing spring, or, if such could not be found, it was
not uncommon first to dig a well. When the cabin was
to be built, the few neighbors gathered at the site, and
first cut down, within as close proximity as possible, a
number of trees as nearly of the same size as could be
found, but ranging from a foot to twenty inches in diame-
ter. Logs were chopped from these, and rolled to a
common centre. This work, and that of preparing the
foundation, would consume the greater, part of the day
in most cases, and the entire labor would very likely oc-
cupy two or three days, and sometimes four. The logs
were raised to their places with handspikes and skid-poles,
and men standing at the corners notched them with axes
as fast as they were laid in position. Soon the cabin
• would be built several logs high, and the w-ork would be-
come more difficult. The gables were formed by bevel-
ing the logs, and making them shorter and shorter as
each additional one was laid in place. These logs in the
gables were held in position by poles, which extended
across the cabin from end to end, and served also as
rafters, upon which to lay the rived clapboard or "shake"
roof The so-called "shakes" were three to six feet in
length, split from oak or ash logs, and made as smooth
and flat as possible. They were laid side by side, and
other pieces of split stuff laid over the cracks so as to
keep out the rain effectually. Upon these logs were laid
to hold them in place, and these in turn were held by
blocks of wood placed between them. The chimney
was an important part of the building, and sometimes
more difficult to construct, from the absence of suitable
tools and material. In the river valleys, and wherever
loose stone was accessible, neat stone chimneys were fre-
quently built. Quite commonly the chimney was made
of sticks, and laid up in a manner very similar to the
walls of the cabin. It was, in nearly all cases, built out-
side of the cabin, and at its base a huge opening was cut
through the wall to answer as a fireplace. The stakes in
the chimney were held in place, and protected from fire
by mortar, formed by kneading and working clay and
straw. Flat stones were procured for back and jambs of
the fireplace, and an opening was sawed or chopped m the
logs on one side the cabin for a doorway. Pieces of
hewed timber, three or four inches thick, were fastened
on each side by wooden pins to the ends of the logs, and
the door, if there were any, was fastened to one of these
by wooden hinges. The door itself was apt to be a rude
piece of woodwork. It was made of boards, rived from
an oak log, and held together by heavy cross-pieces.
There was a wooden latch upon the inside, raised by a
string which passed through a gimlet-hole, and hung
upon the outside. From this mode of construction arose
the old and familiar hospitable saying, "You will find
the latch-string always out." It was pulled in only at
night, and the door was thus easily and simply fastened.
Many of the pioneer cabins had no doors of this kind,
and no protection for the entrance except such as a
blanket or skin of some wild beast afforded. The begin-
ners on the banks of the Ohio frequently enjoyed the
luxury of heavy boat-planks and other sawed material
obtained from the breaking up of the boats in which they
came (a quite customary procedure), from which floors,
doors, or roofs, and perhaps other parts of the cabin,
were constructed. The window was a small opening,
often devoid of anything resembling a sash, and seldom
glazed. Greased paper was not infrequently, used in lieu
of the latter, but more usually some old garment consti-
tuted a curtain, which was the only protection at the
window from sun, rain, or snow. The floor of the cabin
was made of "puncheons" — pieces of timber split from
trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewed toler-
ably smooth on the upper surface with a broadaxe. They
were made half the length of the floor. Some of the
cabins first erected in this part of the country had nothing
but the earthen floor which Nature provided. At times
they had cellars, which were simply small excavations for
the storage of a few articles of food or, it may be, of
cooking utensils. Access to the cellar was readily gained
by lifting a loose puncheon. There was generally a small
loft, used for various purposes, among others as the
guest-chamber of the house. This was reached by a
ladder, the sides of which were split pieces of sapling,
put together, like everything else in the house, without
nails. It is worthy of note that Judge Symmes, writing
from North Bend New Year's day, 1790, some descrip-
tion of his new houses at that place, took pains to
mention those that were "well-shingled with nails," and
the "good stone chimney" and "sash-windows of glass"
that several of them had.
THE FURNITURE
of the pioneer cabin was in many cases as simple and
primitive as the cabin itself A forked stick, set in the ,
floor and supporting the poles, the other ends of which
rested upon the logs at the end and side of the cabin,
formed a bedstead. A common form of table was a
split slab, supported by four rude legs, set in auger-holes.
Three-legged stools were made in a similar simple man-
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
S3
ner. Pegs, driven in auger-holes in the logs of the wall,
supported shelves, and others displayed the limited ward-
robe of the family not in use. A few other pegs, or per-
haps a pair of deer's antlers, formed a rack where hung
rifle and powder-horn, which no cabin was without. The
cradle for the pioneer babe was more likely than not to
• be a bee-gum or a sugar-trough. Some who became
prominent citizens of Cincinnati and other parts of the
Purchase were rocked in sugar-troughs. These, and
perhaps a few other simple articles brought from the old
home, formed the furniture and equipment of many a
pioneer cabin. The utensils for cooking and the dishes
for table use were few. The best were of pewter, which
the careful housewife of the olden time kept shining as
brightly as the more pretentious plate of our latter-day
fine houses. It was by no means uncommon that wooden
vessels, either coppered or tinned, were used upon the
table. Knives and forks were few, crockery scarce, and
tinware by no means abundant. Food was simply
cooked and served, but it was, in general, very excellent
of its kind and wholesome in quality. The hunter kept
the larder supplied with venison, bear meat, squirrels,
wild turkeys, and many varieties of smaller game. Plain
corn-bread, baked in a kettle, in the ashes, or upon a
board in front of the great open fireplace, answered the
purpose of all kinds of pastry. The wild fruits in their
season were made use of, and afforded a pleasant variety.
Sometimes a special effort was made to prepare a deli-
cacy, as, for instance, when a woman experimented in
mince-pies, by pounding wheat to make the flour fo rthe
crust and using crab-apples for fruit. In the cabin-lofts
was usually to be found a miscellaneous collection that
made up the pioneer's materia medica, the herb medicines
and spices, catnip, sage, tansy, fennel, boneset, penny-
royal, and wormwood, each gathered in its season; and
there was also store of nuts and strings of dried pump-
kin, with bags of berries and fruit.
THE HABITS
of the Miamese were of a simplicity and purity in
conformity with their surroundings and belongings.
The men were engaged in the herculean labor, day
after day, of enlarging the little patch of sunshine
about their homes, cutting away the forest, burning off
brush and debris, preparing the soil, planting, tending,
harvesting, caring for the few animals which they brought
with them or soon procured, and in hunting.
THE FEMALE MIAMESE.
While the men were engaged in the heavy labor of the
field and forest or in following the deer or other game,
their helpmates were busied with their household duties,
providing for the day and for the winter coming on,
cooking, making clothes, spinning, and weaving. They
were commonly well fitted, by nature and experience, to
be consorts of the brave men who first came into the
western wilderness. They were heroic in their endurance
of hardship, privation, and loneliness. Their industry
was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work, then,
like man's, was performed under disadvantages since re-
moved. She had not only the common household duties
to perform, but many now committed to other hands.
She not only made the clothing of the family, but also
the fabric for it. The famous old occupation of spin-
ning and weaving, with which woman's name has been
associated throughout all history, and which the modern
world knows little, except through the stories of the grand-
mother, which seems surrounded with a halo of romance
as we look back to it through tradition and poetry, and
which alwyas conjures up visions of the graces and virtues
of a generation gone — that was the chief industry of the
pioneer women. Every cabin resounded with the softly
whirring wheel, and many forest homes with the rhyth-
mic thud of the loom. The pioneer woman, truly, an-
swered the ancient description of King Lemuel in the
Proverbs: ''She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh
willingly with her hands : she layeth her hands to the
spindle, and her hands hold the distaff." Almost every
article of clothing not made of deerskin, as many a hunt-
ing shirt and pair of leggins was, and, indeed^-about all
the cloth to be found in some of the old cabins, was the
product of her toil. She spun flax and wove linen and
woolen for shirts and pantaloons, frocks, sheets and
blankets. Linen and wool, the "linsey-woolsey" of the
primitive day, furnished most of the material for
THE CLOTHING
of the men and women, though some was obtained from
the skins of wild beasts. Men commonly wore the hunt-
ing shirt, a kind of loose frock reaching half-way down
the thighs, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot
or more upon the chest. This generally had a cape,
which was often fringed with a ravelled piece of cloth of a
different color from that which composed the garment.
The capacious bosom of the shirt often served as a pouch,
in which could be carried the smaller articles that a hunter
or woodsman needs. It was always worn belted, and
was made of coarse linen, linsey, or buckskin, according
to the taste or fancy of the weaver. In the belt was worn
a hunting or "scalping" knife," unhappily too ready at
hand, as was sometimes proved at the cost of a human
life, upon occasions of deadly quarrel. Breeches were
made of heavier cloth or dressed deer-skin, and were
often worn with leggings of the same material or some
kind of leather, while the feet were frequently encased in
moccasins after the Indian fashion, which were quickly
and easily made, though they often needed mending.
The buckskin breeches or leggings were very comfortable
when dry, but seemed cold when wet, and were almost
as stiff as wooden garments would be when next put on.
Hats or caps were generally made of coonskin, wildcat,
or other native fur. The women, when they could not
procure "store duds," dressed in linsey petticoats, coarse
shoes and stockings, and wore buckskin mittens or gloves,
not for style, but when any protection was required for
the hands. All of her wearing apparel, like that of the
men, was made with a view to service and comfort, and
was quite commonly of home manufacture throughout.
Other and finer articles were worn sometimes, but they
were brought from former homes or bought at the stores
in the settlements along the river, in the former case being
54
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
often the relics handed down from parents to children.
Jewelry was not common; but occasionally some orna-
ment was displayed.
PIONEER LITERATURE.
In the cabins of the more cultivated pioneers were
usually a few books — the Bible and a hymn-book, the
Pilgrim's Progress, Baxter's Saint's Rest, Hervey's Medi-
tations, Esop's Fables, Gulliver's Travels, Robinson
Crusoe, and the like. The long winter evenings were
spent pardy in poring over a few well-thumbed volumes
by the light of the great log fire, and partly in curing and
dressing skins, knitting, mending, and other employ-
ments. Hospitality was simple, unaffected, hearty, and
unbounded. The latch-string was "always out" at nearly
every cabin.
WHISKEY
was in common use, and was furnished on all occasions
of sociability. It was brought in from Kentucky and the
Monongahela country, and down the Ohio and Licking
rivers. A few years later many of the settlers put up
small stills, and made an article of corn whiskey that
was not held in so high esteem, though used for ordinary
drinking in large quantities. Nearly every settler had
his barrel of it stored away. It was quite the universal
drink at merry-makings, bees, house-warmings, and wed-
dings, and was always set before the traveller who chanced
to spend the night or take a meal at a pioneer cabin. In
this the settler but followed the custom of other pioneer
communities.
SOCIETY.
As settlements increased, the sense of loneliness and
isolation was dispelled, the asperities of life were soft-
ened, its amenities multiplied, social gatherings became
more numerous and enjoyable, the log-roUing, harvesting,
and husking bees for the men, and the apple-butter
making and quilting parties for the women, furnished
frequent occasions for social intercourse. The early set-
tlers took much pride and pleasure in rifle-shooting, and,
as they were accustomed to the use of the gun in the
chase and relied upon it as a weapon of defence, they
exhibited considerable skill. A wedding was the local
event of chief importance in the sparsely setded new
country. The young people had every inducement to
marry, and generally did marry as soon as able to pro-
vide for themselves. When a marriage was to be cele-
brated, all the neighborhood turned out. It was custom-
ary to have the ceremony performed before dinner, and,
in order to be on time, the groom and his attendants
usually started from his father's house in the morning for
that of the bride. All went on horseback, riding in
single file along the narrow trails. Arriving at the cabin
of the bride's parents, the ceremony would be performed,
and after that dinner was served. This was a substantial
backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and deer or bear
meat, with such vegetables as could be procured. The
greatest hilarity prevailed during the meal. After it was
over, dancing began, and was usually kept up till the
next morning, though the newly made husband and wife
were, as a general thing, put to bed by the company in
the most approved old fashion and with considerable
formality, in the midst of the evening's rout. The tall
young men, when they went on the floor to dance, had
to take their places with care between the logs that sup-
ported the loft floor, or they were in danger of bumping
their heads. The figures of the dances were three and
four-handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The com-
mencement was always a square four, which was followed
by "jigging it off." The settlement of a young couple
was thought to be thoroughly and generously made when
the neighbors assembled and raised a cabin for them.
AGRICULTURE.
During all the early years of the settlements, varied
with occasional pleasures and excitements, the great work
of increasing the tillable ground went slowly on. The
implements and tools were few, compared with what the
farmer may command nowadays, and of a primitive kind;
but the soil, that had long held in reserve the accumu-
lated richness of centuries, produced splendid harvests,
and the husbandman was well rewarded for his labor.
The soil was warmer then than now, and the seasons ear-
lier. The bottom lands, if not flooded by the freshets,
were often as green by the first of March as fields of
grain now are a month later. The wheat was pastured
in the spring, to keep it from growing up so early and
fast as to become lodged. The harvest came early, and
the yield was often from thirty-five to forty or more bush-
els per acre.
PIONEER MONEY.
The first circulating medium in the new country was
composed mainly of raccoon and other skins from the
forest. Mr. John G. Olden says, in his entertaining His-
torical Sketches and Early Reminiscences: "A deer-skin
was worth and represented a dollar; a fox-skin, one-third
of a dollar; a coon-skin, one-fourth of a dollar; — and
these passed almost as readily as the silver coin. The
buffalo and bear-skins had a more uncertain value, and
were less used as a medium of trade." Spanish dollars,
very likely cut into quarters and eighth pieces, sometimes
appeared, and in time constituted, with the smaller pieces
of Mexican coinage, the greater part of the currency
afloat. Smaller sums than twelve and a half cents were
often paid or given in change in pins, needles, writing-
paper, and other articles of little value. A Cincinnati
merchant named Bartle brought in a barrel of copper
coins to "inflate the currency" in 1794, but his fellow-
merchants were so exasperated at his action that they al-
most mobbed him. These troops at Fort Washington were
paid in Federal money, commonly bills of the old Bank
of the United States, of which a three-dollar note was
then the monthly pay of a private. The bills were usu-
ally called "oblongs," especially at the gaming tables,
which many of the officers and soldiers frequented. The
funds disbursed at Fort Washington made valuable addi-
tions to the currency of the lower Miami country, and
greatly facifitated its commercial and mercantile growth
and business operations there.
PRICES.
From some parts of the Purchase long journeys had
to be made upon occasion, and very likely on foot, when
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
55
medicines or delicacies were required for the sick, or
some indispensable article for the household or farm was
to be procured. The commonest goods at first com-
manded large prices, from the distance of the wholesale
houses in the Eastern cities where they were purchased,
and the cost of transportation. In parts of Ohio, if not
in the Miami Purchase, in the early days coffee brought
seventy-five cents to a dollar; salt five or six dollars a
bushel of fifty pounds; and the plainest calico one dollar
a yard. What was raised in the country, however, was
cheap enough. Judge Syrames notes in August, 1791,
that "provisions are extremely plenty; corn may be had
at Columbia for two shillings cash per bushel; wild meat
is still had with little difficulty; and hogs are increasing
in number at a great rate, so that I expect any quantity
of pork may be had next killing time at twenty-five shil-
lings per hundred."
A WAR-PERIOD.
During the War of 181 2 many of the pioneer husbands
and fathers volunteered in the service of the United
States, and others were drafted. Women and children
were left alone in many an isolated log-cabin all through
Ohio, and there was a long reign of unrest, anxiety, and
terror. It was feared by all that the Indians might take
advantage of the desertion of these homes by their nat-
ural defenders, and pillage and destroy them. The dread
of robbery and murder filled many a mother's heart; but
happily the worst fears of this kind proved to be ground-
less, and this part of the country was spared any scenes
of actual Indian violence during the war. After it end-
ed, a greater feehng of security prevailed than ever before.
A new motive was given to immigration, and the country
more rapidly filled up. An
ERA OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY
was fairly begun. Progress of the best kind was slowly,
surely made. The log houses became more numerous
in the clearings; the forest shrank away before the wood-
man's axe ; frame houses began to appear in many local-
ities where they were before unknown; the pioneers, as-
sured of safety, laid better plans for the future, resorted
to new industries, enlarged their possessions, and im-
proved the means of cultivation. Stock was brought in
greater numbers from Kentucky and the east. Every
settler now had his horses, oxen, cattle, sheep, and hogs.
More commodious structures about the farm took the
place of the old ones. The double log cabin, of hewed
logs, or a frame dwelling, took the place of the smaller
one; log and frame barns were built for the protection of
stock and the housing of the crops. Then society began
more thoroughly to organize itself; the school-house and
the church appeared in all the rural coinmunities ; and
the advancement was noticeable in a score of other ways.
The work of the Miamese pioneers was mainly done.
Their hardships and privations, so patiently and even
cheerfully borne in the time of them, were now pleasantly
remembered. The best had been njade of what they
had, and they had toiled with stout hearts to lay the
foundations of the civilization that began to bloom about
them. Industrious and frugal, simple in their tastes and
pleasures, happy in an independence, however hardly
gained, and looking forward hopefully to an old age of
plenty and peace which should reward them for the toils
of their earliest years, and a final rest from the struggle
of many toilsome seasons, they were ready to join in the
song which was pleasantly sung for them long after by
the Buckeye poet, William D. Gallagher, dedicated to the
descendants of Colonel Israel Ludlow, and entitled '
SIXTY YEARS AGO.
A song of the early times out west and our green old forest home,
Whose pleasant memories freshly yet across the bosom come!
A song for the free and gladsome life in those early days we led,
With a teeming soil beneath our feet and a smiling heaven o'erhead !
O, the waves of life danced merrily and had a joyous flow,
In the days when we were pioneers, sixty years ago!
The hunt, the shot, the glorious chase, the captured elk or deer!
The camp, the big, bright fire, and then the rich and wholesome cheer;
The sweet, sound sleep at dead of night by our camp-fire blazing high,
Unbroken by the wolfs long howl and the panther spnnging by,
O, merrily passed the time, in spite our wily Indian foe.
In the days when we were pioneers, sixty years ago!
We shunn'd not labor; when 'twas due, we wrought with right good-will;
And for the homes we won for them, our children bless us still.
We lived not hermit lives, but oft in social converse met;
And fires of love were kindled then that burn on warmly yet.
O, pleasantly the stream of life pursued its constant flow.
In the days when we were pioneers, sixty years ago!
'We felt that we were fellow-men, we felt we were a band
Sustain'd here in the wilderness by Heaven's upholding hand ;
And when the solemn Sabbath came we gather'd in the wood.
And lifted up our hearts in prayer to God, the only good.
Our temples then were earth and sky; none others did we know
In the days when we were pioneers, sixty years ago!
Our forest life was rough and rude, and dangers closed us round ;
But here, amid the green old trees, we freedom sought and found.
Oft through our dwellings wintry blasts would rush with shriek and moan :
We cared not, though they were but frail ; we felt they were our own.
O, free and manly lives we led, 'mid verdure or 'mid snow.
In the days when we were pioneers, sixty years ago!
But now our course of life is short; and as, from day to day.
We're walking on with halting step and fainting by the way.
Another land, more bright than this, to our dim sight appears,
And on our way to it we'll soon again be pioneers;
Yet, while we linger, we may all a backward glance still throw
To the days when we were pioneers, sixty years ago!
Without an iron will and an indomitable resolution,
they could never have accomplished what they did. Their
heroism deserves the highest tribute of praise and admi-
ration that can be awarded, and their brave and toil-
some deeds should have permanent record in the pages
of history.
S6
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE MIAMESE AND THE INDIANS.
Let us welcome, then, the strangers.
Hail them as our friends and brothers.
And the heart's right hand of friendship
Give them when they come to see us,
Gitche Manito, the Mighty,
Said this to me in my vision.
H. W. Longfellow, "Hiawatha."
Friendship was in tlieir loolcs, but in their hearts there was hatred.
Straight there arose from tlie forest the awful sound of the war-whoop.
And, lilce a flurry of snow in the whistling wind of December,
Swift and sudden and keen came a flight of feathery arrows ;
Then came a cloud of smoke, and out of the cloud came the lightning,
Out of the lightning thunder, and death unseen ran before it.
Longfellow, "Courtship of Miles Standish."
SYMMES' PROCLAMATION.
It was remarked in the last chapter that, while Tyflge
Symmes was detained with his party at Limestone, he
had repeated information from Major Stites, then just
getting settled in his block-houses and cabins at Colum-
bia, that Indians had coine in to see him (Stites) and
share his hospitality, and that they had expressed a strong
desire to see the great man of the Miami Purchase and
make a peace compact with their new white brethren.
This information was evu^ntly considered important by
the pioneer Columbian, since he dispatched two mes-
sengers on foot, in the inclement days of early December,
to make their way for sixty miles along the banks of the
Ohio, to convey his tidings to the leader still tarrying at
Limestone. Symmes not appearing, and the Indians con-
tinuing their visits and beginning to express some impa-
tience at his delay, another message was sent to him,
which, as we have seen, had the effect of hastening his
departure with the colony for the settlement contem-
plated near the mouth of the Great Miami. Before his
expedition set out, however, he, remembering, perhaps,
the great example of Penn in his dealings with the In-
dians, prepared and dispatched the following unique
proclamation or letter to the red men of the Miamis:
Brothers of the JVyandots and Shawancei : Hearken to your brother,
who is commg to live at the Great Miami. He was on the Great Mi-
ami last summer, while the deer was yet red, and met with one of your
camps ; he did no harm to anything which you had in your camp ; he
held back two young men from hurting you or your horses, and would
not let them take your skins or meat, though your brothers were very
hungry. All this he did because he was your brother, and would live
in peace with the red people. If the red people will live in friendship
with him and his young men, who came from the great salt ocean, to
plant corn and build cabins on the land between the Great and Little
Miami, then the white and red people shall all be brothers and live to-
gether, and we will buy your furs and skins, and sell you blankets and
rifles, and powder and lead and rum, and everything that our red
brothers may want in hunting and in their towns.
Brothers ! a treaty is holding at Muskingum. Great men from the
thirteen fires are there, to meet the chiefs and head men of all the na-
tions of the red people. May the Great Spirit direct all their councils
for peace. But the great men and the wise men of the red and white
people cannot keep peace and friendship long, unless we, who are their
sons and warriors, will also bury the hatchet and live in peace.
Brothers ! I send you a string of beads, and write to you with my
own hand, that you may believe what I say. I am your brother, and
will be kind to you while you remain in peace. Farewell !
JNO. C. Symmes.
Jan. the 3d, 1789.
What was the immediate effect of this epistle upon the
aboriginal mind has not been recorded; but a few months
afterwards a white man, Mr. Isaac Freeman, going in from
the Maumee towns, with several captives released by the
Indians, was charged in reply with the delivery of the
following address to Judge Symmes :
Mawme, July 7, 1789.
Brothers ! Americans ! of the Miami Warriors ! Listen to us war-
riors what we have to say.
Now, Americans ! Brothers ! we have heard from you, and are glad
to hear the good speech you sent us. You have got our flesh and blood
among you, and we have got yours among us, and we are glad to hear
that you wish to exchange. We really think you want to exchange, and
that is the reason we listen to you.
As the Great Spirit has put your flesh and blood into our hands, we
now deliver them up.
We warriors, if we can, wish to make peace, and our chiefs and
yours will then listen to one another. As we warriors speak from our
hearts, we hope you do so too, and wish you may be of one mind, as
we are.
Brothers, Warriors — when we heard from you that you wished to
exchange prisoners, we listened attentively, andnowwe send some, as all
are not here nor can be procured at present, and therefore we hope you
will send all ours home; and when we see them, it will make us strong
to send all yours, which cannot now all be got together.
Brothers, Warriors — when we say this, it is from our hearts, and we
hope you do the same; but if our young men should do anything wrong
before we all meet together, we beg you to overlook it. This is the mind
of us warriors, and our chiefs are glad there is hope of peace. We
hope, therefore, that you are of the same mind.
Brothers, Warriors — it is the warriors who have shut the path which
vour chiefs and ours formerly laid open; but there is hope that the
path will soon be cleared, that our women and children may go where
they wish in peace, and that yours may do the same.
Now, Brothers, Warriors — you have heard from us; we hope you will
be strong like us, and we hope there will be nothing but peace and
friendship between you and us.
In explanation of a part of this missive it should be
said that Symmes held at North Bend ten Indian
women and children, who had been ■ left with him by
Colonel Robert Patterson, as captives taken in a raid
from Kentucky to the Indian towns, to be exchanged for
whites when the opportunity should offer. Freeman had
been sent by Symmes to the Maumee, with a young In-
dian for interpreter, to arrange such exchanges. Subse-
quently, while under a flag of truce approaching the In-
dians on a friendly mission, Freeinan was fired upon and
killed.
THE MURDER OF FILSON.
The reference of Judge Symmes' letter to his visit to
the Great Miami the preceding "summer" seems rather
to refer to his tour of exploration in that valley in the
early fall, thus mentioned in a letter of his dated Octo-
ber, 1788: "On the twenty-second ultimo I landed at
Miami, and explored the country as high as the upper
side of the fifth range of townships. " About forty miles
inland, at some point on the Great Miami, his party came
upon a small camp of the savages, so small that they
could easily have destroyed it and its inhabitants. In
his company were a number of Kentuckians, who had
accompanied Colonel Patterson and the surveyor Filson,
two of the projectors of Losantiville, in the "blazing" of
a road, through the forest from Lexington to the mouth
of the Licking, as one of the preliminary steps to the
proposed settlement opposite that point, and had incited
him to make the exploration by promising him their es-
cort until it was finished. These men, sharing the in-
veterate hostility of their people to the red man, desired
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
57
to make away with this little band of wandering savages
and their humble property at once. Symmes prevented
them, however, and would not allow the Indians to be
harmed or their stuff to be taken. About half the Ken-
tuckians, therefore, after giving him all the trouble they
dared by their disorderly conduct, deserted his party and
started for^horae, leaving him almost defenceless in the
perilous wilderness. The rest of the men of Kentucky
soon also showing an intention to desert, he was obliged
to leave his exploration but partially accomplished, and
make his way as rapidly as possible back to the Ohio, up
which he pushed again to his headquarters at Limestone.
Filson, who, together with Patterson, had accompanied
the expedition, also deserted it about the time the first
Kentuckians went, through fear of remaining longer with
either detachment of the party; but, strange to say, in
his eagerness to make greater haste out of the wilderness,
he decided to confront its dangers solitary and alone, and
so swung away from even the feeble protection which he
had with Symmes and the remainder of the escort. He
was never seen or directly heard from again. Within
three hours from the time of his abandonment of the
party, it is supposed he had fallen a victim to the ferocity
of the Indians. The locahty of the occurrence, thinks
Mr. Miller, author of Cincinnati's beginnings, was "prob-
ably not far from the northern boundary line of Hamilton
county, and the northeast corner of Colerain township. "
With Filson also perished his plan of Losantiville, which
had been carefully prepared at Lexington, and is believed
to have been on his person at the time.
FRIENDLINESS AND HOSTILITY.
Notwithstanding subsequent hostilities between the
Indians and the whites of the Purchase, the feeling of
the sons of the forest toward Judge Symmes personally
appears to have been kind and friendly — perhaps in mem-
ory, if not of his proclamation or letter, yet of his re-
straint of the Kentuckians when some of their people
were threatened with pillage and murder, and of his sub-'
sequent kindness to them. He does not appear ever to
have, been attacked or otherwise molested by them in his
own person or property; and nearly seven years after-
wards, at the negotiation of the treaty of Greenville,
some of the Indians assembled there told him that they
had often been on the point of shooting him, but had
recognized him in time to save his life. Nevertheless the
kind-hearted and hospitable judge was sorely tried and
troubled by their hostility to his settlers on the Purchase
— a feeling which early developed in cruel and bloody
deeds. The traditions of the region were those of in-
veterate warfare and hatred between the races. Only ten
years before Symmes' settlement at North Bend, Colo-
nels Bowman and Logan had led a hundred and si.xty
Kentuckians up between the rivers against the Shawnee
towns on the Little Miami, within the present limits of
Greene county, in retaliation for atrocities committed by
the Indians in Kentucky shortly before, and had experi-
enced some sharp fighting. The Indians pursued them
to the mouth of the Little Miami, where they recrossed
the Ohio on their homeward march. The next year
after this e.xpedition the redoubtable George Rogers
Clark headed a troop of a thousand Kentuckians against
the Little Miami and Mad river towns, and destroyed the
Indian village at Piqua and much corn of the growing
crops of the Indians. It is said that after crossing
the Ohio at the mouth of the Licking, on their north-
ward march, they built two block-houses on the present
site of Cincinnati, and that the force was disbanded there
on their return, homeward bound.
BLOCK-HOUSES, OR FORTIFIED STATIONS,
were destined to play an active part in die Indian and
pioneer affairs of the Symmes Purchase. They were
erected by associations of colonists for mutual safety,
upon a plan of settlement proposed by Judge Symmes as
best for the development of the country. A strong log
block-house being put up, it was surrounded by the cabins
of the settlers, rather closely crowded together, and the
whole was then encircled by a stout stockade or picket,
made of tree trunks or logs set pretty deep in the ground,
and making, in some cases, a really formidable work of
defence. Not until this was completed did the settlers
venture to begin clearing land and planting crops. Even
then they were- obliged to work with their rifles near and
sentinels constantly on the alert. At sunset all returned
to the - stockade, taking everything portable and of value
with them. These stations were made as numerous as
the number of settlers, and more particularly the number
of troops that could be obtained for each from the mili-
tary commander in this region, would warrant. It might
be presumed that, in the exposed state of the country,
nothing would have been easier than to get or retain sol-
diers for the protection of the settlers, since that was pre-
cisely for what the forces of the United States were sent
to the valley of the Ohio. But it was not always so. We
have recorded the difficulties and detentions which beset
Judge Symmes at Limestone, while endeavoring to get
his colony to its destination, through the failure of Gen-
eral Harraar to send him an escort promptly. After he
had secured the protection of Captain Kearsey and the
small remnant of his troop, and had made his settlement
at North Bend, he was very soon unceremoniously de-
serted by Kearsey and all but five of his command, the
rest putting off down the river to Louisville, without even
building him a stockade or block-house. It was then
nearly a month before the earnest persuasions of Symmes
prevailed with Major Wyllys, the commandant at that
place, to secure him a garrison, consisting of an ensign
and eighteen men, which speedily, by desertion and In-
dian attack, was reduced to twelve, and Luce, after build-
ing a tolerable block-house and remaining four months,
transferred his little force to Losantiville, again leaving
Symmes' hamlets nearly or quite unprotected. The
country had no adequate protection, indeed, until the
early part of the following summer, when Major Doughty
arrived from Fort Harmar with two companies of sol-
diers and began the erection of Fort Washington. Even
then, and for some time after, troops were arbitrarily sent
to or withdrawn from the stations.
In a letter from North Bend, January 17, 1792, Symmes
58
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
relates how "General St. Clair, by much importunity, gave
Mr. Dunlap a guard of six soldiers. With these the set-
tlers returned to Colerain [Dunlap's station]. In a very
few days after the station was re-settled, the Governor
ordered the six soldiers back again to Fort Washington.
But the next day General St. Clair set out for Philadel-
phia, and Major Zeigler came to the command. His
good sense and humanity induced him to send the six
men back again in one hour's time, as I am told, after
General St. Clair left Fort Washington, and he assured
Mr. Dunlap that he should have more soldiers than si.\,
rather than the station should break. Majors sometimes
do more good," he naively adds, "than generals."
Dr. Goforth, then of Columbia, wrote September 3,
1791:
The number of militia at these stations, from the best accounts I
have received, are at Columbia, 200; Cincinnati, 150; South Bend, 20;
City of Miami, 80 ; Dunlap's, 15 ; and Covalt's, 20.
A considerable number of these stations, more or less
strongly fortified, are known to have existed within the
present limits of the county during the period of Indian
warfare ; and it is quite possible that the memory of others
has disappeared. So far as known, they were as follows:
1. Covalt's Station, at Round Bottom, twelve miles
up the Little Miami, below the present site of Milford.
This was erected in 1789, and Mr. John G. Olden, author
of Historical Sketches and Early Reminiscences of Lock-
land and Reading, is disposed to place it first in chrono-
logical order, although similar claims have been made for
Clemens', Gerard's, Dunlap's, and Ludlow's stations.
2. Clemens' station, also on the Round Bottom, about
, half a mile below Covalt's.
3. Gerard and Martin's station, on the west side of
the Little Miami, and about two miles from its mouth,
near the present Union bridge.
4. Dunlap's station, established in the early spring of
1790, in Colerain township, on the east side of the Great
Miami and in the remarkable bend of that stream which
begins about half a mile south of the county line.
5. Campbell's station, also on the east bank of the
Great Miami and in Colerain township, opposite the
present site of Miainitown.
6. Ludlow's station, whose site is now embraced
within the limits of Cincinnati, about five miles from
Fountain square, in the north part of Cumminsville. It
was also established in the spring of 1790. This was the
most famous of all the stations.
7. White's station, probably established in 1792, on
the bank of Mill creek, northeast of the present site of
Carthage, near the aqueduct, and about where the ice-
pond now is.
8. Tucker's station, on section four, Springfield town-
ship, east of the old Hamilton road and about a mile and
a half northwest of Lockland.
9. Runyan's station, also of 1792, on section nine-
teen, Sycamore township, about a mile and a half north
of Sharonville, and near the present county line. This
was the outpost in that direction.
10. Griffin's station, established, probably, in the fall of
1793, about half a mile west of White's station, where the
Carthage and Springfield turnpike now crosses Mill creek.
11. Voorhees' station, in the south part of section
thirty-three, Sycamore township, on the west bank of
Mill creek, built early in 1794.
12. Pleasant Valley station, on the line between sec-
tions four and ten, Springfield township, near the "Sta-
tion Spring." Also built in the spring of 1794, by the
builders of Tucker's station, to protect them and another
party which had moved in to the westward.
13. McFarland's station, in Columbia township, near
the site of Pleasant Ridge, established in the spring of
1795, and believed to be the last founded of the pioneer
stations in this county.
Some of these stations were the scene of fierce Indian
attacks, and others of cowardly murders by the savages.
Their story will be more particularly related in the histo-
ries of the townships.
In 1794-5 Mr. Benjamin Van Cleve, then of Cincin-
nati, but soon afterwards of Dayton, made many interest-
ing memoranda of affairs in the Miami country, among
which we find the following, made in the latter year:
On the twentieth [ot August], seventeen days after the treaty [of
Greenville], Governor St. Clair, General Wilkinson, Jonathan Dayton,
and Israel Ludlow contracted with John Cleves Symmes for the pur-
chase and settlement of the seventh and eighth ranges, between Mad
River and Little Miami. One settlement was to be at the mouth of Mad
River, one on the Little Miami in the seventh range, and one on Mad
River above the mouth.
Two parties of surveyors set off [from Cincinnati] on the twenty-
first of September — Mr. Daniel C. Cooper, to survey and mark a road
and cut out some of the brush, and Captain John Dunlap to run the
boundaries of the Purchase. I went with Dunlap. There were at this
time several stations on Mill Creek : Ludlow's, White's, Tucker's,
Voorhees's, and Cunningham's,* The last was eleven miles from Cin-
cinnati. We came to Voorhees's and encamped.
A limited number of regulars was stationed at several
of these by General Harmar or his subordinate officers.
All together they afforded protection and food to a large
number of pioneer families, who must otherwise have
been driven out of the country. They were of use else-
where among the early settlements, as well as for local
defence, and the pioneers in other parts of southern
Ohio were less annoyed after their establishment, because
the Indians had to spend a part of their time in watch-
ing the stations, instead of taking the war-path against
the scattered and isolated settlers. They regarded these
defences, indeed, with peculiar disfavor. Judge Burnet
accompanies an interesting paragraph upon the stations,
in his Notes, with these remarks:
The Indians viewed these stations with great jealousy, as they had
the appearance of permanent military establishments, intended to re-
tain possession of their country. In that view they were correct ; and
it was fortunate for the settlers that they wanted either the skill or the
means of demolishing them. The truth is, they had no idea of the
flood of emigration which was setting towards tlieir borders, and did
not feel the necessity of submitting to the loss to which immediate
action would subject them. . . Their great error consisted in
permitting those works to be constructed at all. They might ha\'e pre-
\ented it with great ease, but theyappeared not to be aware of the serious
consequences which were to result, until it was too late to act with ef-
fect. Several attacks were, howe\'er, made at different times, with an
apparent determination to destroy them ; but they failed in every in_
stance.
* Cunningham's settlement, according to Mr. Olden, "was not a regular sta-
tion in the proper sense of that term. No block-house or other defensive work
were erected, and there was no organized community.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
59
"captain blackbeard. "
Shortly after the permanent location of Judge Symmes
upon the Purchase, he had the honor to entertain, in his
rude shelter at North Bend, a Shawnee chief bearing the
English piratical name of "Captain Blackbeard," who
lived some scores of miles to the northward, near Roche
de Boeuf, on the Maumee river. The Judge has left the
following entertaining account of the interview:
The chief (tlie others sitting around him) wished to be informed how
far I was supported by the United States, and whether the thirteen
fires (States) had sent me hitlier. I answered in the affirmative, and
sf)read before them the thirteen stripes which I had in a flag then in
my camp. I pointed to the troops in their uniform, then on parade,
and informed the chief that those were the warriors which the thirteen
fires kept in constant pay to avenge their quarrels, and that, though
the United States were desirous of peace, yet they were able to chas-
tise any aggressor who should dare offend them, and to demonstrate
this I showed them the seal of my commission, on which the American
arms are impressed, observing that while the eagle had a branch of a
tree as an emblem of peace in one claw, she had strong and sharp
arrows in the other, which denoted her power to punish her enemies.
The chief, who observed the device on the seal with great attention,
replied to the interpreter that he could not perceive any intimation of
peace from the attitude the eagle was in, having her wings spread as in
fiight, when folding of the wings denoted rest and peace; that he could
not understand how the branch of a tree could be considered a pacific
emblem, for rods designed for correction were always taken from
the boughs of trees; that to him the eagle appeared, from her bearing
a large whip in one hand and such a number of arrows in the other,
and in full career of flight, to be wholly bent on war and mischief. I
need not repeat here my arguments to convince him of his mistake,
but I at length succeeded, and he appeared entirely satisfied of the
friendship of Congdis (for so they pronounce Congress) to» the red
people.
Captain Blackbeard staid a month or so in the neigh-
borhood of Judge Symmes, with whom he had frequent
friendly conferences, and whose hospitality he accepted,
especially when it took the form of whiskey, without
reservation or stint. Notwithstanding subsequent martial
events, some of which must have come very near to his
lodge on the Maumee, Blackbeard seems to have re-
mained friendly to the whites, and long afterward he
repaid with interest the kindness and hospitality he had
received from Symmes by requitals to Judge Burnet
and other lawyers and federal officials on their way
through the wilderness from Cincinnati, to attend the
courts in Detroit.
treachery and murder.
Much of the promise of the Indians to thetri, however,
was to be broken to the hope. Their expressed friend-
liness was undoubtedly, in some cases, used to mask
treachery. Scarcely more than two months after the de-
parture of Blackbeard, namely, on the ninth day of April,
1789, one of Symmes' exploring parties was fired upon
by the savages while leaving its camp, and two of its
number — a man named Holman, from Kentucky, and
Mr. Wells, from Delaware — were instantly killed. John
Mills and three others, staying not to fight the foe and
standing not upon the order of their going, escaped to
the settlements.* A straggler into the forest from the
* The year before Symmes came with his colony, about the twentieth
of May, a large party of whites, descending the river in three boats
was attacked by the Indians a little below the mouth of the Great
Miami, and cut off or captured to a man. Samuel Purviance, a prom-
inent citizen of Baltimore, was one of the company, and was never
afterwards heard of, though General Harmar caused a long and careful
villages had now and then also been picked off, and on
the twenty-first of May an attack was made in some force
from the Ohio shore upon a boat-load of settlers whom
Ensign Luce, the officer then stationed at North Bend,
was escorting with a detachment of his men from that
place up the river to South Bend. The boat was not
captured with its precious freight ; but by the fire one of
the soldiers — Runyan, a New Jersey recruit — was killed,
and four others of the troops were wounded. Mills, also
a Jerseyman, who had escaped the previous disaster, was
now among the wounded, being shot through the lungs;
but was taken in hand by friendly squaws and cured with-
out much difficulty. One of the settlers — William Mont-
gomery, of Kentucky — was also hurt, and so badly as to
be sent to Louisville for treatment. The affair created
intense excitement and fear at- North Bend, where the
garrison was now felt to be utterly inadequate; and
Symmes, in an indignant letter to Dayton, bitterly re-
news his complaints of the neglect of the commanders
to send him troops enough for protection. He says: "We
are in three defenceless villages along the banks of the
Ohio, and since the misfortune of yesterday many citi-
zens have embarked and gone to Louisville; and others
are preparing to follow them soon; so that I fear I shall
be nearly stripped of settlers and left with one dozen
soldiers only. Kearsey's leaving the Purchase in the man-
ner he did, ruined me for several weeks." Five days later
he writes : " I believe that fifty persons of all ages have
left this place since the disaster of the twenty-first. The
settlers consider themselves as neglected by the Govern-
ment. . . We are really distressed here for the
want of troops." About this time the jealous and angry
Kentuckians, before mentioned, began to designate the
Purchase as "a slaughter-house," from the danger of mas-
sacre they really had some reason for representing as ex-
isting there.
TROUBLE BREWING THE BRITISH.
At this time the settlers at Losantiville and Columbia
were tilling their in. lots, as well as out-lots, with firearms
at their elbows and sentinels carefully posted. Weeks
before the pacificatory letter of the Indians at "Mawme"
to Symmes, it became evident that, as soon as they could
prepare for serious inroads, the tribes would show their
thorough-going antagonism to the new settlements being
planted upon the Ohio, whatever their verbal or written
words might be. The most alarming reports were brought
in by Mr. Isaac Freeman, who had penetrated the Indian
country on an errand from Symmes, and had returned in
safety and with several released captives, and also the ■
olive-branch missive from "Mawme," but, writes the
judge, he "brings such terrifying accounts of the warlike
preparations making at the Indian towns, that it has raised
fresh commotions in this village, and many families are
preparing to go down to the Falls" [Louisville]. British
influence was busy in stirring up the Indians to acts of
hostility. In the same letter Symmes writes :
While Mr. Freeman was at the Indian towns he was lodged at the
search to be made for him. It was one of the most terrible and sweep-
ing disasters from Indian attack that ever occurred in the valley of the
Ohio.
6o
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
house of a chief called Blue Jacket, and while there he saw the pack-
horses come to Blue Jacket's house loaded with five hundred weight of
powder and lead equivalent, with one hundred muskets; this share he
saw deposited at the house of Blue Jacket. He says the like quantity
was sent them from Detroit, to every chief through all their towns.
Freeman saw the same dividend deposited at a second chief's house in
the same town with Blue Jacket. On the arrival of the stores from De-
troit, British colors were displayed on the housetop of every chief, and
a prisoner among the Indians who had the address to gain full credit
with them and attended at their council-house every day, found means
to' procure by artifice an opportunity of conversing with Freeman. He
assured Freeman that the Indians were fully determined to rout these
settlements altogether; that they would have attempted it before this
time, but had no military stores; but these being then arrived, it would
not be long before they would march.
Confirmation of these reports was received about the
same time from two widely separated points at the east
and west, from Vincennes and from Pittsburgh.
INDIAN OUTRAGES.
We can find in Mr. Freeman's account one reason at
least why the infant settlements along the Ohio were for
so many months spared from Indian outrage, conflagra-
tion, and general massacre. Individual cases of capture,
maiming, or murder were not wanting, however. Judge
Symmes writes, January i, 1790: "We have already had
a man murdered by the Indians within the squares of
the city." This may refer to the case of a young son of
John Hilliers, a settler at the Bend, who had gone out on
the morning of the twelfth of December next previous,
to drive home the cows, and, when scarcely half a mile
from the block-house, was tomahawked and scalped, and
his gun and hat were carried off. On the seventeenth of
the same month two young men from the settlement,
James Lafferty and Andrew Vaneman, hunting along the
river, were surprised by Indians while sitting at night by
their camp-fire, and were both killed at the first shot.
Their bodies were then stripped of clothes, and toma-
hawked and scalped in the most barbarous manner. A
letter from Judge Symmes, written in May following, re-
ferring to matters at North Bend, says: "Things were
prosperous, considering the mischief done there this
spring by the Indians. They plant considerable corn,
though much more would have been planted if no mis-
chief had been done. Many fled on those occasions —
two men have been killed. The Indians are universally
hostile, and the contrary opinion is ill-founded."
On the other side of the Purchase, the settlers at Co-
lumbia were greatly troubled after the depredations and
attacks once began, which was not until nearly a year
after the founding of the colony. In time too soon, how-
ever, the dreaded blows fell. Among the cultivators of
the soil to whom Major Stites had leased the rich clear-
ing known as Turkey Bottom was one James Seward,
who occupied a lot upon it for his daily labor, but had
his residence on the hillside near the village. Two sons
of his, Obadiah and John, aged respectively twenty-one
and fifteen years, were at work in this field one afternoon,
September 20, 1789, when they were surprised by a small
party of Indians, at a hickory tree which had been felled
for nuts, whose bushy top gave the savages an excellent
opportunity for concealment and stealthy approach.
Obadiah gave himself up at once, and was securely bound
by withes or twigs; but the other ran for his life, in a cir-
cuitous course towards home. The Indians easily gained
upon him, however, and one of them hurled his toma-
hawk at the boy with such force as to cleave his skull
immediately behind the right ear. He dropped in his
tracks, and, when overtaken an instant later, was again
tomahawked and was then scalped. His mangled form
was not found until the next morning, when John Claw-
son, one of the pitying neighbors who gathered around,
carried it on his back to the bereaved home. Strange to
say, young Seward was not yet dead, though unconscious,
and in his delirium, as his clothing and the surroundings
showed, he had dragged himself round and round upon
his knees. He actually survived the terrible injury for
thirty-nine days, his senses returning to him, and even
cheerfulness and good spirits, so that he was able to give
a correct and detailed account of the affair. Obadiah
was for some time unheard from; but a captive returning
at length from the Indian country brought word that he
had been killed by a bloodthirsty and drunken Indian,
simply for taking the wrong fork of a trail. The young
man, it is said, had long cherished a presentiment that
he should perish at the hands of the savages. The
doubly bereaved father afterwards removed to Springdale,
where he suffered the loss of another son by the fall of a
tree.
The captive just mentioned was Ned Larkin, an em-
ploye of Mr. John Phillips who was seized and taken by
the Indians the same day the young Sewards were at-
tacked. He was alone in the field at the time, cutting
and binding cornstalks for fodder, and was bound and
marched through the wilderness to Detroit, where his cap-
tors sold him to a French trader. By this man, who
seems to have had a heart in his bosom, Larkin was lib-
erated not long after, and with other released captives
made his way to Pittsburgh, whence he found conveyance
down the river to Columbia.
In 1790 there were further outrages by the Indians at
this place. At one time the families, of whom there
were several, located on that part of the face of the hill
afterwards called Morristown, lost all their clothes hung
out to dry. A party of the thieving redskins being sus-
pected, was pursued, the property found in their posses-
sion and partially recovered; but they had already de-
stroyed the coverlets to make belts. James Newell, one
of the most valued of the early settlers of Columbia, also
lost his life by the red hand of Indian murder — at just
what date we have not ascertained.
One of the most interesting incidents of the Indian
period in Hamilton county occurred July 7, 1792, on the
river between Cincinnati and Columbia, and about four
miles from the present Broadway, then Eastern Row.
It was the custom of boats on the river, both large and
small, to hug pretty closely the Kentucky side, as being
the safer from Indian attack; but a canoe which left Cin-
cinnati for Columbia on the afternoon of the day named,
had neglected this precaution, and was proceeding up
what was designated, from its perils, as the "Indian
shore." It contained one lady, Mrs. Coleman, wife of a
settler at Columbia, two men named Clayton and Light,
and another whose name has not been preserved, and a
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
6i
young lad, Oliver M., the only son of Colonel Spencer,
a prominent pioneer then residing at Columbia, and who
had served gallantly in the war of the Revolution. The
boy had been to Cincinnati to spend the Fourth of July,
and had remained for two or three days after. The
stranger, a drunken soldier from the fort, presently lurched
overboard, nearly upsetting the canoe; but managed to
get ashore, and was soon left behind, thus escaping mas-
sacre, although his late companions, looking back at him,
remarked that he "would be good food for Indians."
The boy also took to the water-side path, and walked
along near the party remaining in the canoe. A pair of
Indians had concealed themselves near the path which
connected the two villages, and as the boat approached
fired a volley upon its occupants. Clayton was wounded
at the first fire, fell overboard, was at once dragged
ashore by the Indians, killed and scalped. Light was also
wounded in the arm, but not severely, and throwing him-
self into the stream, swam off with one arm through the
fire of the Indians and escaped. Mrs. Coleman like-
wise flung herself into the water, and the Indians, saying,
"squaw must drown," left her to her fate. She was
buoyed up by her clothing, however, and floated down
a mile, to a point where she could get ashore, then took
the path for Cincinnati, crossing Deer creek at its mouth,
went to the house of Captain Thorp, at the artificer's yard
near Fort Washington, where she obtained dry clothing,
and remained until recovered from her fright and fatigue.
The Indians had seized young Spencer, wdthout doing
him injury, and hastily departed with him, carrying him
into captivity. He was taken to their towns on the head-
waters of the Great Miami, where he was adopted into
an Indian family, and lived with them several months,
when he was ransomed for one hundred and twenty-five
dollars through the intervention, it is said, of President
Washington, who had a very high regard for his father,
Colonel Spencer, and secured the ransom of the son
through the British Minister and the commandant of the
British forces at Detroit. Young Spencer afterwards be-
came a distinguished citizen, a clergyman and bank
officer in Cincinnati. In his manhood he wrote and pub-
lished a narrative of his capture and captivity.
The settlers at Columbia became exceedingly hostile to
the red men, and with reason, as these narratives show.
Their labors were greatly interrupted by the constant
necessity for the exercise of vigilance against the onset
of the wily foe. For a time they had to work and watch
in equal divisions, as many as one-half standing guard,
while the other half labored, the divisions being ex-
changed in the morning and afternoon. Their annoy-
ances, and the outrages from which they suffered, bore
their natural fruit in an intense and abiding desire for re-
venge. On the principle, we suppose, that the devil must
be fought with fire, they even adopted some of the Indian
methods. Colonel Whittlesey, of Cleveland, contributes
this corroborative paragraph in one of his valuable his-
torical pamphlets:
In 1844 I spent an evening with Benjamin Stites, jr., of Madison-
ville, Ohio, the son of Benjamin Stites, who settled at Columbia, near
Cincinnati, in 17S8. Benjamin, junior, was then a boy, but soon grew
to be a woodsman and an Indian figliter. Going over the incidents of
the pioneer days, he said the settlers of Columbia agreed to pay thirty
dollars in trade for every Indian scalp. He related an instance of a
man who received a mare for a scalp, under this arrangement. The
frontier men of those times spoke of "hunting Indians," as they would
of hunting wolves, bears, or any other wild animal. I met another old
man who then lived near Covington, on the Kentucky side of the Ohio,
who said he had often gone alone up the valley of the iVIiami on a hunt
for scalps. With most of these Indian hunters the bounty was a
minor consideration. The hatred of the red man was a niucli stronger
motive.
A tradition goes that on one occasion a reeking scalp,
just torn from the head of an Indian, was brought on
the Sabbath into or near the house of God in Columbia,
breaking up the meeting and sending the inhabitants
home to prepare against an attack from the savages.
The settlers of Cincinnati of course shared the gen-
eral peril. Some fifteen or twenty of them were killed
by the Indians in the one year 1790. Not only was it
necessary to post sentinels when at work in the out-lots
or improving the town property, but rifles were carried
to service by the congregation of the First Presbyterian
church, whose place of meeting was close by where the
the same society worships now, near the corner of Main
and Fourth streets. A fine of seventy-five cents was
imposed upon male attendants neglecting this precau-
tion; and it is said to have been actually inflicted upon
Colonel John S. Wallace, a noted hunter and Indian
fighter of those days, and perhaps upon others.
In 1790 the road from Cincinnati eastward crossed
the mouth of the water-course near the then eastern
limits of the town, as noted in the account of the adven-
ture to Mrs. Coleman. At the point of crossing there
was a dense forest of maple and beech, with tangled
grape-vines and a heavy undergrowth of spicewood. Mr.
Jacob Wetzel, of the village, had had a successful day of
hunting, October 7th, of that year, and on his way home
to get a horse with which • to bring in his heavier spoils,
sat down here upon a decayed tree-trunk to rest. He
shortly heard a rustling in the woods; his dog pricked
up his ears, growled, and a moment afterwards barked
loudly as he saw an Indian presenting his rifle from
behind a large oak tree. Wetzel caught sight of him at
the same instant, and, springing behind another tree,
both fired together. He received the Indian's fire un-
harmed, and succeeded in wounding his enemy's left
elbow. Before the Indian could reload, Wetzel took
the offensive and charged upon him with his hunting
knife, and the Indian drew his to defend himself. The
conflict that ensued was sharp and desperate, a life-or-
death struggle. The white man made the first blow as
he rushed, but the red one parried it, knocking the
other's knife from his hand to a distance of thirty feet or
more. Nothing daunted, Wetzel seized him with a vice-
like grasp about the body, holding down and tightly
against it the arm with the knife. In the struggle both
were thrown, but the Indian got uppermost and was
about to use his knife with deadly effect, when the dog
sprang at his throat with such a savage attack as made
him drop the weapon, which Wetzel seized and instantly
stabbed his antagonist to the heart. The Indian so far
had maintained the contest on his side alone; but after
62
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
the victor had despoiled his body of its armament and
gone a little distance on his way home, he heard the
whoop of a party of savages, and ran hastily to the river,
where he seized a canoe and escaped to the cove then
existing at the foot of Sycamore street. He afterwards
learned that the Indian killed was one of the bravest
chiefs of his tribe, by whom he was greatly lamented.
The savages were also making mischief this year on the
other side of the river, in the interior. Judge Symmes
wrote the last of April ;
The Indi.ins are beyond me.isure troublesome throughout Kentucky.
They have destroyed Major Doughty and a party of troops on the
Tennessee. If the President knew of half the murders they commit,
he surely would rouse in indignation and dash those barbarians to some
other clime.
After the defeat of General Harmar in two actions by
the Indians, in October, they grew bolder, but still made
no concerted attacks upon the settlements on the
Symmes Purchase until January, when Dunlap's station
was attacked, as will be presently narrated. November
4th the judge writes :
The strokes our army has got seem to fall like a blight upon the
prospect, and for the present seem to appall every countenance. I con-
fess that, as to myself, I do not apprehend that we shall be in a worse
situation with regard to the Indians than before the repulse. What the
Indians could do before, they did, and -they now have about one hun-
dred less of their warriors to annoy us with than they had before the
two actions; besides, it will give them some employment this winter to
build up new cabins and repair by hunting the loss of their corn.
The settlers at them [the stations] are very much alarmed
at their situation, though I do not think that the houses will be at-
tacked at those stations; yet I am much concerned for the safety of the
men while at work, hunting, and travelling.
Judge Symmes did not divine with his usual prescience
in this case. Scarcely more than two months had passed
after this dehverance before the Indians appeared in
force but a few miles from his home and made a desperate
attack upon one of his stations. On the eighth of Janu-
ary, 1791, Colonel John S. Wallace, of Cincinnati, lately
mentioned in this chapter, together with Abner Hunt,
who was a surveyor, John Sloane, and a Mr. Cunning-
ham, engaged in exploring the country, fell in with this
war-party, or a detachment of it, somewhere on the west
bank of the Great Miami, where the whites had encamped
the night before. When setting out that morning to ex-
plore the bottoms above their camp, towards Colerain,
or Dunlap's station, they had got but about seventy yards
away when they were assailed by savages from the rear,
an ambuscade having evidently been prepared for them.
Cunningham was shot down instantly; Hunt was vio-
lently dismounted by the fright of his horse, and made
prisoner; and Sloane was shot through the body, but
managed to keep his feet and effect his escape. Wallace
also dashed off, but on foot, and was followed by two In-
dians, when he overtook Sloane and mounted Hunt's
riderless horse, which had kept along with its companion.
Both Wallace and Sloane thus escaped safely and unin-
jured to Dunlap's station. Colonel Wallace had a nar-
row escape, however. He was repeatedly fired upon in
his flight, and at the first shot his leggings became loose,
the fastenings perhaps cut by the missile, when he tripped
and fell. Coolly but rapidly he retied the strings, in time
to resume his flight without being overtaken. Hunt's
fate was terrible, being that which too often befell the
captive among the savages. During a lull in the siege of
Dunlap's station, the third night after the capture, they
occupied themselves in the torture of the hapless pi is-
oner. He was prostrated across a log with his legs and
arms stretched and fastened in painful positions to the
ground; he was scalped, his body agonized by knife-
wounds, and the cruel work completed, as one account
relates, by building a fire upon his naked abdomen, or,
as others have it, by thrusting blazing firebrands into his
bowels, which had been exposed by the cutting and
slashing to which he had been subjected. In this
dreadful situation his remains were found aftei^ the In-
dians had retired, and were taken up decently and buried
by the garrison.
The attack on Dunlap's began in the early morning of
January roth. About five hundred Indians appeared be-
fore the stockade, with three hundred more in reserve in
the neighborhood, and demanded its surrender, promis-
ing the garrison and settlers safety. They are believed
to have been led by the notorious white renegade,
Simon Girty, who was guilty of so many atrocities and
barbarities toward the whites, and is said to have died,
himself, in the centre of a blazing log-heap, where he
was placed by a party of avengers, who recognized him
long after Indian hostilities had ceased. Girty's brother
was also in the attacking force, with Blue Jacket and
other well-known chiefs. During the parley with
Kingsley, which lasted two hours, Simon Girty was seen
holding the rope with which the prisoner's (Hunt's) arms
were tied, and sheltered behind a log. Lieutenant
Kingsley was in command, but had only eighteen reg-
ulars, who, with eight or ten armed residents, made but
a feeble garrison in point of numbers. Nevertheless the
Indian demand was refused and fire was opened by the
garrison, being promptly returned by the besiegers. As
soon as possible a runner was got off to Fort Washing-
ton for reinforcements, and the defence continued to be
stoutly maintained. The women in the station kept up
the supply of bullets to their defenders by melting spoons
and pewter plates and running them into balls; and the
fire on both sides was scarcely intermitted for hours.
The Indians entirely surrounded the stockade on the
land side, their flanks resting on the river; and their fire
was hot and distressing. It was kept up until late in the
afternoon, when the Indians drew off and during the
night put Hunt to the torture in full view of the garrison,
between the fort and an ancient work remaining near.
The attack was renewed in the evening and maintained
in a desultory way until midnight, when the beleagured
people again had comparative rest, but no refreshment in
their weariness and terror except parched corn, their sup-
ply of water being cut off by the merciless foe. The
Indians in this attempt set fire to the brush about the
station and threw many blazing brands upon the struc-
tures within it, but they were happily extinguished before
serious mischief was done. Again the Indians came on
the next day, but were met with the steady, unrelenting fire
of the garrison, and hastily withdrew, probably hastening
their retreat from the report of their scouts that relief was
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
63
marching from Fort Washington. In their retreat the
Indians shot all the cattle within their reach. A force of
thirty regulars and thirty-three volunteers had been dis-
patched from Fort Washington, under the command of
Captain Timmons, reaching the neighborhood of the
station the next forenoon about ten o'clock, but finding
the Indians already gone. They went in pursuit at once,
but with litde effect, the detachment not being numerous,
enough to make an effective attack.
This heroic defence of Colerain against an overwhelm-
ing force of savages is one of the most noteworthy inci-
dents in the history of the county. Sometime before the
fight David Gibson and John Crum, of the station, had
been taken prisoners by the Indians, and Thomas Lawi-
son and William Crum driven to the stockade, to the
imminent danger of their lives. The inhabitants there
were kept in a pretty constant state of alarm, and, after
the defeat of General St. Clair the following November,
the settlers at Dunlap's, vividly remembering the attack
which followed Harmar's misfortune, and reasonably ex-
pecting a similar sequel to St. Clair's, abandoned the sta-
tion, and were only persuaded to return with considerable
difficulty. It was important that this station should- be
maintained. Judge Symmes wrote in January, 1792:
"Colerain has always been considered the best barrier to
all the settlements, and'when that place became re-peo-
pled the inhabitants of the other stations became more
reconciled to stay."
At North Bend, during the same year, there were fresh
attacks by the Indians. In September, 1791, a Mr. Ful-
ler and his son WiUiam, employes of John Matson, sr.,
were accompanied by Matson's mother and George Cul-
lum to a fish-dam that was planted in the Great Miami,
about two miles from North Bend. Towards night Ful-
ler sent his son away alone, to take the cows to the settle-
ment, when he disappeared, and was seen no more until
after Wayne's victory, or nearly four years after he was
taken by the Indians, when he was restored to his friends
by Christopher Miller, a white man who was among the
savages at the time of his capture.
The outrages at Cincinnati were also numerous in
1791. In May of this year Colonel Wallace, whose
misfortune it was to figure considerably in the Indian his-
tory of this period, was at work with his father and a
small lad, hoeing corn upon the subsequent site of the
Cincinnati hospital, while two men named Scott and
Shepherd were plowing corn upon a spot near the corner
of Central avenue and Clinton street. To them suddenly
appeared five or six Indians, who jumped the fence and
raised a yell, whereupon the plowmen took to their heels,
and were fortunately not caught by the pursuing savages,
though they were chased as far as the corner of Fifth and
Race streets. Colonel Wallace may have been forgetful,
as before noted, about taking his rifle to church; but he
had it with him on this occasion, lying in an adjacent
furrow, and telling the rest to escape to town as quietly
as possible, snatched it up and fired at an Indian about
eighty yards distant, who took himself off at once. The
other Indians rode away on the plow-horses at the top of
their speed. Contrary to their usual custom, however, they.
in the haste of their flight, unintentionally, of course, left
something by way of exchange. Light blankets and blan-
ket capotes, a leg of bear meat, a horn of powder, and
some other small articles, were the spoils from the raiders;
but they hardly made up an equivalent for the horses
taken. As soon as the alarm could be given and pre-
parations made, the best foresters and hunters in town
started in pursuit, mounting all the horses available, a
party going ahead at once on foot. The chase was fol-
lowed up the Great Miami valley to where Hamilton now
stands ; but unavailingly, as the Indians had just crossed,
and the pursuers were turned back by tremendous rains
and floods.
On the twenty-first of the same month Benjamin Van-
Cleve and Joseph Cutler, while engaged in clearing an
out-lot, were fired at, and the latter captured, carried off,
and never heard of afterwards. The trail of the party
was easily followed, as Cutler had lost a shoe, and was
kept at full run till dark, and resumed the next day; but
the Indians got off safely with their captive.
Eleven days after, on the first of June, Mr. VanCleve,
again working in his out-lot, with two others, was attacked
and pursued. He started first in the retreat; but was
stopped an instant by a fallen tree-top, giving an Indian
time to seize him. VanCleve threw his assailant, but
the savage rose at once and stabbed him, following this
by the usual barbarity of scalping. He then took himself
out of the way of the two white men who were running
some distance in VanCleve's rear, and who found their
companion lifeless when they reached the spot. On the
same day Sergeant Michael Hahn, of the garrison, with
a corporal and a young man from Colerain, taking a cow
to Dunlap's station, the party was attacked soon after
starting, within the present limits of the city, and all were
killed and scalped.
These are recorded as the last cases of assasination by
the red men in Cincinnati; but they continued to prowl
about the outlying streets and roads, and sometimes
killed cattle; in one case, it is said, an Indian shot his
stone-headed arrow clean through the body of an ox.
They also stole horses from time to time, and committed
other depredations, until Anthony Wayne instituted his
energetic measures for the protection of this region in
1793 and 1794.
In the spring of the latter year, however, John Lud-
low, brother of Colonel Israel Ludlow, of the station,
left his late residence in Cincinnati to return to his farm,
near the junction of the old Hamilton road with the hill
road to Carthage. An attack had been made on White's
station, in the country, which, with a defeat sustained by
Lieutenant Lowrey near Eaton, Preble county, had greatly
alarmed the Cincinnatians. Mr. White himself was in
this party, which was escorted by Colonel Ludlow and
his company of militia. They reached the farm without
molestation, and began unloading the wagon with them,
while White, mounted on a sick horse, went on toward
his station. When he reached a point abtfut two hun-
dred yards from the stream since called Bloody run, he
heard rifle-shots, and presently saw four pack-horses
where as many whites had been waylaid by the Indians.
M
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
One of them was killed, tomahawked, and scalped; his
body was found in the river. Another was mortally
hurt, but managed to get to Abner Benton's place, at
Ludlow's Ford on Mill creek, where he died of his
wounds. A third was sjightly wounded, and the fourth
escaped unhurt. White now abandoned the journey to
his station, and returned to Ludlow's party to give the
alarm. Pursuit was promptly taken up by the whole
company and the Indians followed vainly for five or six
miles, when the party rode back to the scene of the at-
tack and buried the dead.
One of the saddest incidents of this time occurred
while Wayne's campaign was in progress. Colonel
Robert Elliott, a Pennsylvanian born, but a resident of
Hagerstown, Maryland, was a contractor for the supply
of General Wayne's army, and was in person superin-
tending the delivery of supplies. While on the way from
Fort Hamilton to Cincinnati, on the present Winton
road, he was fired upon and killed by the enemy, his
servant escaping in safety with both horses. An attempt
was made to scalp the Colonel, which, from the absence-
of his natural capillary covering and the adoption of a
substitute, led the Indian attempting it to the exclama-
tion, as is reported in English, "bigd — d lie!" Mr.
Elliott's body was recovered the next day, put in a box,
and started for Cincinnati in one of his own wagons.
Near or exactly at the place where the Colonel was shot,
the servant, by .a singular fatality, received' a second fire
from the savages, and was this time killed. The escort
was stampeded, and the Indians seized the box and
broke it, but did not further disturb its contents, though
they took away the horses that drew it. An armed party
was then detached from Fort Washington, which went
out and brought the body in. It was buried in the old
Presbyterian cemetery at the corner of Main and Fourth
streets, and afterwards removed to the new " God's acre "
of that church on Twelfth street. A monument was
erected many years after, to commemorate the tragedy,
by Commodore Elliott, his son, with an inscription as
follows: "In memory of Robert Elliott, slain by a party
of Indians near this point, while in the service of his
country. Placed by his son, Commodore J. D. Elliott,
United States Navy, 1835. Damon and Fidelity."
Several outrages whose history we have found recorded,
and doubtless many others so far unnoticed to the writer,
occurred during the period of Indian warfare, some of
whose dates we are not able to fix with certainty. Judge
Symmes, in April, 1790, notes that a lad had been "cap-
tivated" by the Indians a few weeks before at the Mill
creek (Ludlow's) station; but adds: "Otherwise not
the smallest mischief has been done to any, except we
count the firing by the Indians on our people mischief,
for there have been some instances of that, but they did
no hurt. " Not a great many years ago a large elm might
still be seen on one of the roads leading north from the
city, about three miles from the old corporation line, be-
hind which a small party of Indians had been concealed,
to await the approach on horseback of a man named
Baily, whom they halted, seized, and took prisoner.
At Blue Bank, a locality on the Great Miami near
Dunlap's station, while Michael Hahn, one of the early
settlers of Cincinnati, Martin Burkhardt, and Michael
Lutz, were viewing lots on the second of January, 1792,
Lutz was killed and scalped, and finally stabbed by the
Indians. Hahn was shot through the body, but ran for
the station, within sight of which the Indians followed
him, and there, seeing they were otherwise likely to lose
the chance of his scalp, shot a second time and brought
him down?" Burkhardt was shot through the shoulder
and took to the river, where he was drowned and his
body found near North Bend six weeks subsequently.
Thus perished this whole party by Indian massacre.
About two miles below the same station, at a riffle in
the Great Miami, a canoe in which John McNamara,
Isaac Gibson, jr., Samuel Carswell, and James Barnett
were taking a millstone up the river, was fired upon with
mortal effect. McNamara was killed, Carswell wounded
in the shoulder and Gibson in the knee, Barnett alone
escaping unhurt
Elsewhere in the county, at Round Bottom, two set-
tlers named Hinkle and Covalt, while engaged in hewing
logs in front of their own cabin, were instantly killed by
the barbarians.
An interesting narrative of the captivity of Israel Don-
alson, contributed to the American Pioneer for Decem-
ber, 1842, contains a passage which is of some local
value, especially as illustrating the character of a famous
old-time citizen, long since passed away. Donalson was
captured by the Indians April 22, 1791, while on a sur-
veying expedition with Massie and Lytle, four miles above
Manchester, on what was called from that day Donalson
creek, and escaped a few days afterwards, reaching the
Great Miami, and following down Harmar's trace until
he arrived at what he called "Fort Washington," now Cin-
cinnati. Mr. Donalson says:
On "W^ednesday, the day that I got in, I was so far gone that I
thought it entirely useless to make any further exertion, not knowing
what distance I was from the river ; and I took my station at the root
of a tree, but soon got into a state of sleeping, and either dreamt or
thought that I should not be loitering away my time, that I should get
in that day ; which, on reflection, I had not the most distant idea.
However, the impression was so strong that I got up and walked on
some distance. I then took my station again as before, and the same
thoughts occupied my mind. I got up and walked on. I had not
travelled far before I thought I could see an opening for the river ; and
getting a little farther on I heard the sound of a bell. I then started
and ran, at a slow speed, undoubtedly ; a little farther on I began to
perceive that I was coming to the river hill, and having got about half-
way down, I heard the sound of an a.xe, which was the sweetest music
I had heard for many a day. It was in the extreme out-lot ; when I
got to the lot I crawled over the fence with difficult)-, it being very high.
I approached the person very cautiously till within about a chain's
length, undiscovered ; I then stopped and spoke ; the person I spoke to
was Mr. "W^illiam "Woodward, the founder of the Woodward high school.
Mr. Woodward looked up, hastily cast his eyes round, and saw that I
had no deadly weapon ; he then spoke : "In the name of God," said
he, "who are you?" I told him I had been a prisoner and had made
my escape fi'om the Indians. After a few more questions he told me
to come to him. I did so. Seeing my situation, his fears soon sub-
sided ; he told me to sit down on a log and he would go and catch a
horse he had in the lot, and talie me in. He caught his horse, set me
on him, but kept the bridle in his own hand. When we got into the
road, people began to enquire of Mr. Woodward, "Who is he — an
Indian?" I was not surprised nor offended at the enquiries, for I was
still in Indian uniform, bareheaded, my hair cut off close, except the
scalp and foretop, which they had put up in a piece of tin, with a bunch
of turkey feathers ; which I could not undo. They had also stripped
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
65
off the feathers of about two turkeys, and hung them to the hair of my
scalp ; these I had taken off the day I left them. Mr. Woodward took:
me to his house, where every kindness was shown me. They soon gave
me other clothing ; coming from different persons they did not fit me
very neatly ; but there could not be a pair of shoes got in the place that
I could get on, my feet were so much swollen. But what surprised me
most was, when a pallet was made down before the fire, Mr. Woodward
condescended to sleep with me.
The next day, soon after breakfast, General Harmar sent for me to
come to the fort. I would not go. A second messenger came : I still
refused. At length a Captain Shambrough came ; he pleaded with me,
told me I might take my own time, and he would wait for me. At
length he told me if I would not go with him, the next day a file of men
would be sent, and I would then be compelled to go. I went with him;
he was as good as his word, and treated me very kindly. When I was
ushered into the quarters of the commander, I found the room full of
people waiting my arrival. I knew none of them except Judge Symmes,
and he did not know me, which was not surprising, considering the fix
I was in. The General asked me a great many questions ; and when
he got through he asked me to take a glass of liquor, which was all the
aid he offered ; meantime had a mind to keep me in custody as a spy,
which, when I heard, it raised my indignation to think that the com-
mander of an army should have no more judgment when his own eyes
were witnessing that I could scarce go alone.
RELIEF AT LAST.
The glorious victory of General Wayne brought infi-
nite relief to the harassed people. They no longer
trembled with anxiety and fear of Indian outrage. One
immediate effect of the victory and the treaty of Green-
ville was the partial abandonment of the river villages
and the stations, by the desire of the people to settle in
the open country. August 6, 1795, Judge Symmes
wrote from Cincinnati :
This village is reduced more than one-half in its numbers since I left
it to go to Jersey in February, 1793. The people spread themselves
into all parts of the Purchase below the military range since the Indian
defeat on the twentieth of August, and the cabins are of late deserted
by dozens in a street.
Another letter of his the next year, however, shows
that the Indians were again giving trouble, though not
very serious this time :
They now begin to crowd in upon us in numbers, and are becoming
troublesome. We have but one merchant in this part of the Purchase
[North Bend], and he will not buy their deer-skins. The next result is
to beg from me, and I was compelled last week to give them upwards
of forty dollars value, or send near forty of them away offended.
They must have a market for their skins, or they can purchase
nothing from us. Though we have twenty or more merchants at Cin-
cinnati, not one of them is fond of purchasing deer-skins. Some
attention of Government is certainly necessary to this object.
Some of our citizens will purchase horses from the Indians, The con-
sequence is that the Indians immediately steal others, fo rnot an Indian
will walk if he can steal a horse to ride. I wish it was made penal by
Congress to buy horses directly or indirectly from the Indians.
But these annoyances and losses were petty, compared
with the awful dangers of the earlier years. The Miami
country, though not without occasional alarms, especially
during the Indian war of 181 1 and the war with Great
Britain that began the ne.xt year, was thenceforth almost
exempt from savage atrocities. "Poor Lo," with the inev-
itable destiny of his race, was being crowded westward
and to eventual extermination.
CHAPTER IX.
CIVIL JURISDICTION— ERECTION OF HAMILTON COUNTY.
What constittites a State?
Not high-raised battlements or labored mound.
Thick wall or moated gate;
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned;
Not bays and broad-armed ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride;
Not starred and spangled courts.
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No; — men, high-minded men.
With powers as far above dull brutes endued.
In forest, brake, or den.
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude, —
Men who their duties know,
But know theii rights, and, knowing, dare maintain.
Prevent the long-aimed blow.
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain; —
These constitute a State.
— Sir William Jones.
"IROQUOIS."
In chapter IV it was remarked that upon some of the
early maps of the territory which includes the present
State of Ohio, a geographical district was marked and
entitled "Iroquois," since the confederated tribes called
by that generic name claimed jurisdiction over it. It is
not probable that their government was represented here
by satrap, prator, viceroy, or other governor; but theirs is,
we believe, the first authority distinctly recognized by
geography or history as existing over this region. One of
the maps of 1755 designates this as Tunasoruntic, or
"the deer-hunting country," a part of "the country of the
confederate Indians," covering the present territory of
New York, Ohio, and Canada, and thus signifying about
the same thing as the former "Iroquois."
"new FRANCE."
The Ohio country, however, was long before this time
claimed by the French, as an integral part of their great
North American possessions, "New France," by virtue of
the discoveries of her brave explorer, Robert, Cavalier de
la Salle, and the earlier voyage (1640) of the Jesuit
Fathers Charemonot and Brebceuf, along the south shore
of Lake Erie. With the Iroquois they were constantly
at war, and the claims of the confederated tribes to the
territory weighed nothing with the aggressive leaders of
the French in the New World. When, some time in the
first half of the eighteenth century, the French built a
fort on the Iroquois lands near Niagara falls, the governor
of Canada proclaimed their right of encroachment, say-
ing that the Five Nations were not subjects of England,
but rather of France, if subjects at all. But, by the
treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 17 13, Louis XIV, Le Grand
Monarque, renounced in favor of England all right to the
Iroquois country, reserving only the St. Lawrence and
Mississippi valleys to France. Boundaries were so vaguely
defined, however, that disputes easily and frequently
arose concerning the territories owned by the respective
powers; and in 1740, the very year after that in which
the Ohio Land company of the Washingtons, Lee, and
others was organized under a grant from George II, to
occupy half a million acres west of the AUeghanies, De
Celeron, the French commandant of Detroit, led an ex-
66
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
pedition to the Ohio dispatched by the Marquis de la
GalHssoniere, commander-in-chief of New France, buried
a leaden tablet "at the confluence of the Ohio and
Tchadakoin" (?) "as a monument of the renewal of pos-
session which we have taken of the said river Ohio,
and of all those that therein fall, and of all the lands on
both sides, as far as the sources of said rivers" — a sweep-
ing claim, .truly. He ordered the English traders out of
the country, and notified the governor of Pennsylvania
that if they "should hereafter make their appearance on
the Beautiful River, they would be treated without any
delicacy." The territorial squabbles which then ensued
led up to the Frenchand Indian war of 1755-62, which
closed by the cession to England, on the part of France,
of Canada and all her American possessions east of the
Mississippi, except some fishing stations. Thus the Ohio
region at length passed into the undisputed possession of
the British crown.
IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.
In 1766 (though some confidendy say 1774*), the
British Parliament insisted upon the Ohio river as the
southwestern boundary, and the Mississippi river as the
western limit of the dominions of the English crown in
this quarter. By this measure the entire northwest, or
so much of it as afterwards became the Northwest Terri-
tory, was attached to the province of Quebec, and the
tract that now constitutes the State of Ohio was nomi-
nally under its local administration.
BOTETOURT COUNTY.
In 1769 the colony of Virgjnia, by an enactment of
the house of burgesses, attempted to extend its jurisdic-
tion over the same territory, northwest of the river Ohio,
by virtue of its royal grants. By that act the county of
Botetourt was erected and named in honor of Lord Bote-
tourt, governor of the colony. It was a vast county,
about seven hundred miles long, with the Blue Ridge for
its eastern boundary, and the Mississippi for its west-
ern boundary. It included large parts of the pres
ent States of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Ilh-
nois, and was the first county organization covering what
is now Hamilton county. Fincastle, still the seat of
county for the immensely reduced Botetourt county, was
made the seat of justice; but so distant from it were the
western regions of the great county, that the thoughtful
burgesses inserted the following proviso in the creative act :
IV/u-rcas. The people situated on the Mississippi, in the said county
of Botetourt, will be very remote from the court house, and must neces-
sarily become a separate county as soon as their numbers are sufficient,
which will probably happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted by
the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of the said
county of Botetourt which lies on the said waters, shall be exempted
from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county court for
the purpose of building a court-house and prison for said county.
"west AUGUSTA."
In 1776, the present territory of Ohio was included in
what was known as the "District of West Augusta, fbut
we are not informed to what State or county authority it
was subordinated — though probably to that of Virginia, as
was the Kentucky region at this time.
*As Isaac Smucker, in Secretary of State's report for 1877.
tBryant's Popular History of the United States, Vol. I., 6io.
ILLINOIS COUNTY.
Government was still nominal, however, so far as the
county organization was concerned, between the Ohio
and the Mississippi rivers ; and the Indians and few
white settlers within those borders were entirely a law
unto theinselves. After the conquest of the Indiana and
Illinois country by General George Rogers Clark in 1778
the county of Illinois was erected by the Virginia legisla-
ture out of the great county of Boietourt, and included
all the territory between the Pennsylvania line, the Ohio,
the Mississippi, and the northern lakes. Colonel John
Todd was appointed the first county lieutenant and civil
commandant of the county. He perished in the battle of
Blue Licks, August 18, 1782; and Timothy de Montbrun
was named as his successor. At this time there were no
white men in Ohio, except a few Indian traders, some
French settlers on the Maumee, and the Moravian mis-
sionaries on the Tuscarawas.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
After the title of the United States to the wide tract
covered by Illinois county, acquired by the victories of
the Revolution, had been perfected by the cession of
claims to it by Virginia and other States and by Indian
treaties. Congress took the next step, and an important
one, in the civil organization of the country. Upon the
thirteenth of July (a month which has been largely as-
sociated with human liberty in many ages of history), in
the year 1787, the celebrated act entitled "An ordinance
for the government of the territory of the United States
northwest of the river Ohio," was passed by Congress.
By this great organic act — "the last gift," as Chief Justice
Chase said, "of the Congress of the old Confederation
to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their
glorious labors" — provision was made for various forms
of territorial government to be adopted in succession,
in due order of the advancement and development of
the Western country. To quote Governor Chase again:
"When the settlers went into the wilderness, they found
the law already there. It was impressed upon the soil
itself, while it yet bore up nothing but the forest." This
measure was succeeded, on the fifth of October of the
same year, by the appointment by Congress of General
Arthur St. Clair as governor, and Major Winthrop Sar-
gent as secretary of the Northwest Territory. Soon
after these appointments, three territorial judges were ap-
pointed— Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Var-'
num, and John Armstrong. In January the last named,
not having entered upon service, declined his appoint-
ment, which now fell to the Hon. John Cleves Symmes,
the hero of the Miami Purchase. The appointment of
Symmes to this high office gave much offence in some
quarters, as it was supposed to add to his opportunities of
making a great fortune in the new country. It is well
known that Governor St. Clair's appointment to the
Northwest Territory was promoted by his friends, in the
hope that he would use his position to relieve himself of
pecuniary embarrassments. There is no evidence, how-
ever, that either he or Judge Symmes prostituted the
privileges of their places to such ends.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
67
All these appointments being made under the articles
of confederation, they expired upon the adoption and
operation of the Federal constitution. St. Clair and
Sargent were reappointed to their respective places by
President Washington, and confirmed by the senate on
the twentieth of September, 1789. On the same day
Parsons and Symmes were reappointed judges, with Wil-
liam Barton as their associate. Meanwhile, on the ninth
of July, 1788, the governor arrived at Marietta, and pro-
ceeded to organize the territory. He and the judges, of
whom only Varnum and Parsons were present, consti-
tuted, under the ordinance, the territorial legislature.
Their first law was proclaimed July 25th, and on the
twenty-seventh Governor St. Clair issued a proclamation
establishing the county of Washington, to cover all the
territory to which the Indian title had been extin-
guished between Lake Erie, the Ohio and Scioto rivers,
and the Pennsylvania line, being a large part of the
present State of Ohio. Marietta, the capital of the
Territory, was made the seat of justice for Washington
county. The next civil division proclaijmed was
HAMJLTON COUN
On the second of January, 1790, in the thirteenth 'month
and second year ab urbe co?idita, the governor arrived at Lo-
santiville. His august approach was duly heralded, and as
he stepped ashore from his flat-boat, pirogue, or barge,
he was received with a salute of fourteen guns, and four-
teen more were fired as he moved with his suite to the
embattled precincts of Fort Washington. He dispatched
a message to North Bend for Judge Symmes, who ar-
rived the next day, and, after consultation, the ensuing
day (the fourth) was signalized by the erection, as the
Judge put it in a subsequent letter, of "this Purchase in-
to a county." St. Clair's proclamation established the fol-
lowing as the boundary hues of the new creation : "Begin-
ning on the bank of the Ohio river, at the confluence of
the Little Miami, and down said Ohio river to the mouth
of the Big Miami', and up said Miami to the Standing
Stone forks, or branch of said river, and thence with a
line to be drawn due east to the Little Miami, and down
said Little Miami to the place of beginning." This was
a long and narrow county, decidedly inconvenient in
shape, if it had been settled throughout all its borders;
but it was no doubt formed in accordance with the sug-
gestions of Judge Symmes, and its northern boundary
was much better defined than was that of the Miami
Purchase at that time, or at any time until the patent for
the Purchase was issued. The Judge writes: "His ex-
cellency complimented me with the honor of naming the
county. I called it Hamilton county, after the Secretary
of the Treasury" — Colonel Alexander Hamilton, the dis-
tinguished revolutionary and cabinet officer, now but
thirty-three years old, in the prime of his powers, and
considered the pride of the Federal party, perishing mis-
erably fourteen and a half years afterwards, from a mor-
tal wound received in the duel with Aaron Burr. It is
altogether probable that Judge Symmes may have desired
to do the secretary fitting honor; but it is also not impos-
sible that, since the negotiations for the Purchase were still
incomplete, and the duties of the late treasury board, in
regard to the sales of the public lands, had now, under
the new constitution and before the organization of the
general land office, devolved upon the Secretary of the
Treasury, he was also prompted by a lively sense of favors
to come. He adds, in his notes of this affair: "The
governor has made Losantiville the county town by the
name of Cincinnata [thus Symmes spells it, for reasons
that will appear by and by], so that Losantiville will be-
come extinct." St. Clair soon afterwards made it the
capital of the Northwest Territory, and in 1799 the first
session of the territorial legislature was held there.
On the same day that Hamilton county was proclaimed
commissions were issued by the gov^nor for a county
court of common pleas and general. Quarter sessions of
the peace, for said county. Messrs.' William McMillan,
William Goforth, and WiUiam Wells — a triumvirate of
Williams — were appointed judges of the court of com-
mon pleas and justices of the court of general quarter
sessions of the peace. They were also appointed and
commissioned as justices of the peace and of the quorum
in said court. Other justices of the peace were appointed
for the new county, in the persons of Benjamin Stites,
our old Columbia pioneer, John Stites Gano, another
Columbian, and Jacob Topping. J. Brown, "Gent,"
was commissioned sheriff "during the governor's pleas-
ure;" Israel Ludlow, esq., was made prothonotary to the
court of common pleas and clerk of the court of general
quarter sessions of the peace.
Some appointments were also made at this time to
commands in the "First Regiment of MiUtia in the
County of Hamilton." Israel Ludlow, John S. Gano,
James Flinn, and Gershom Gerard, were commissioned
as captains; Francis Kennedy, John Ferris, Luke Foster,
and Brice Virgin, as lieutei'iailts; and Scott Traverse,
Ephraim Kibby, Elijah Stites, and John Dunlap, as en-
signs. Provision seems to have been made by these
appointments for the formation of but four companies.
On the twenty-fourth of the following May the organi-
zation of the county was furthered by the appointment
of William Burnet as register of deeds, and on the next
fourteenth of December Mr. George McCullum was
added to the justices of the peace.
The boundaries of the county were afterwards changed
by the governor, as the settlements widened ; and its area
was greatly enlarged. By his proclamation September
15, 1796, erecting Wayne county (now, as reduced, in
Michigan), with Detroit as its seat of justice, St. Clair
described the eastern boundary of Hamilton county as a
"due northern line from the lower Shawnees' town upon
the Scioto river," which was a long remove to the east-
ward from the Little Miami."
By, proclamation June 22, 1798, an alteration was
made in the boundaries of Hamilton, Wayne, and Knox -
(now, as reduced, in Indiana) counties, by which the west-
ern line of Hamilton was laid down as follows :
The western boundary of the county of Hamilton shall begin at the/
spot on the bank of the Ohio river where the general boundary line
between the lands of tlie United States and the Indian tribes, estab-
lished at Greenville the third day of August, 1795, intersects the bank
of that river, and run with the general boundary line to Fort Recovery,
68
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
and from thence by a line to be drawn due north from Fort Recovery
until it intersects the south boundary line of the county of Wayne;-
and the said line from the Ohio to Fort Recovery, and from thence to
the southern boundary line of the county of Wayne, shall also be the
eastern boundary of the county of Knox.
Fort Recovery was a stockade upon a bend of the
Wabash, very near the present western boundary of
Ohio, and also near the line dividing Darke and Mercer
counties. The mouth of the Kentucky river is at Car-
roUton, fifty miles in a direct line southwest of Cincinnati,
though much further by the winding river. The treaty
of Greenville defined the "general boundary line" men-
tioned above, as to run thence (from Fort Recovery)
southwesterly in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to inter-
sect the river opposite the mouth of Kentucke or Cut-
tawa river. Hamilton county, then, by this time, com-
prised a considerable triangular tract in the southeastern
part of what is now the State of Indiana. It was a very
large county that was enclosed between the east and west
lines above described, the Ohio, and the southern boun-
dary of Wayne county. It is estimated to have included
five thousand square miles, or over three millions of
acres, and to have been equal to about one-eighth part
of the tract that became the State of Ohio.
Just before the creation of a number of new coun-
ties from its territory, by one of the first acts of the first
State legislature, the county is said, somewhat vaguely, to
have stretched from the Ohio one hundred miles north-
ward to the headwaters of the Great Miami, and west-
ward from a meridian line drawn from the eastern sour-
ces of the Little Miami to the Ohio, to a meridian from
the mouth of the Great Miami to the parallel drawn
from the headwaters of that stream. These boundaries,
if correctly stated, represent a vast enlargement of the
original county, and included the present counties of
Hamilton, Clermont, Warren, Butler, Montgomery,
Preble, Darke, Miami, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, and
Greene. The Western Annals, third edition, says that
the county "comprehended the whole country contigu-
ous to the Ohio, from the Hocking river to the Great
Miami."
A gubernatorial proclamation, dated September 20,
1798, attached a part of Hamilton to Adams county —
To begin on the bank of the Ohio, where Elk river, or Eagle creek,
empties into the same, and run from thence due north until it intersects
the boundary of the county of Ross, and all and singular the lands ly-
ing between said north line and Elk river, or Eagle creek, shall, after
the said twentieth day of September next, be separated from the
county of Hamilton and added to the county of Adams.
From the great county of Hamilton, or from coun-
ties carved out of it, there are said to have been organ-
ized, by -1 8 1 5, the counties of Clermont, Warren, Butler,
Preble, Montgomery, Greene, Clinton, Champaign,
Miami, and Darke. St. Clair undertook to erect Bel-
mont, Fairfield, and Clermont sometime before his
resignation in 1802, but Congress refused to recog-
nize his action, holding him "not endowed with such
power, in view of the existence of the territorial legis-
lature. Early in 1802 the inhabitants of Hamilton
residing north of the south boundary of the third or
Military Range, petitioned Mr. Charles Willing Bird,
then secretary of the territory and acting governor in the
absence of General St. Clair, for a division of the county.
He replied in a respectful letter, of the fifteenth of May,
1802, saying that he could not grant the petition, but
promising that it should be laid before the territorial
legislature and recominended to their serious consider-
ation— which was undoubtedly the proper course in the
premises.
The people in all the northern parts of Hamilton
county, above a line pretty nearly the same as the present
north boundary of the county, had their wishes promptly
gratified. Part of the Northwest Territory became the
State of Ohio in the winter of 1802-3; ^^^ '^^^ ^^ '^'^^
first acts passed by the new legislature, in session at
Chillicothe, was that of March 24, 1803, erecting from
Hamilton the counties of Warren (named from General
Joseph Warren, the Revolutionary hero), and Butler
(named from General Richard Butler, also a distinguished
Revolutionary and Indian fighter, who fell in St. Clair's
defeat); and from Hamilton and Ross the counties of
Montgomery (named from General Richard Montgomery,
who fell in the attack on Quebec December 31, 1775),
and Greene (named from General Nathaniel Greene,
still another hero of the Revolution). The act was to
take effect May i, 1803, which is therefore the proper
natal day of these counties. In the separation of the
new counties it was made lawful for the coroners,
sheriffs, constables, and collectors of Hamilton and Ross
counties "to make distress for all dues and officers' fees
unpaid by the inhabitants within the bounds of any of
the said new counties, at the time such division shall take
place, and they shall be accountable in like manner as if
this act had not been passed." The courts of Hamilton
and Ross were to maintain jurisdiction in all actions
pending at the time of the separation, try and determine
them, issue process, and otherwise conclude the pending
matters. Temporary seats of justice were established
for the new counties: For Warren, at the house of
Ephraim Hathaway, on Turtle creek; for Butler, at the
house of John Warrener, in Hamilton; for Montgomery,
the house of George Newcum, in Dayton; and for
Greene, the house of Owen Davies, on Beaver creek.
The boundaries of Butler county, that one of the new
erections which is Hamilton's next neighbor on the north,
were defined as follows: "Beginning at the southwest
corner of the county of Warren, running thence west to
the State line; thence with the same north to a point
due west from the middle of the fifth range of townships
in the Miami Purchase ; thence east to the northwest
corner of the aforesaid county of Warren; thence
bounded by the west line of the said county of Warren
to the place of beginning." The south line thus de-
scribed, being the boundary between the counties of
Hamilton and Butler, appears not to have been satis-
factory, no doubt owing to the irregularity in the early
surveys, and the consequent cutting across many sections
or parts of sections by a straight east and west line, and
an act was passed by the legislature February 20, 1808,
re-establishing the boundary line thus: "Beginning at
the southwest corner of the county of Warren and at the
southwest corner of section numbered seven, in the
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
69
third township of the second entire range of townships,
in the Miami Purchasej thence westwardly along thehne
of said tier of sections to the Great Miami river; thence
down the Miami river to the point where the line of the
next original surveyed township strikes the same; thence
along the said line to the west boundary of the State. "
This act allowed Hamilton county to retain the irregular
north line to be seen upon the later as well as earlier
maps.
^ THE TOWNSHIPS.
&6me of the townships of Hamilton county at or near
>its beginnings can hardly be identified now. JH*e*e^s
not much trouble in recognizing Cincinnati^ Columbia,
Miami, Anderson, Colerain, and Springfield. "^South
Bend" included the tract which afterwards became Delhi
and the major part of Green; and Dayton, Fairfield,
Franklin, Ohio, Deerfield, Washington, and St. Clair, were
no doubt on territory now belonging to other counties.
The erection of townships in the early day is among the
most difficult topics for the local historian. Prior to the
formation of the State constitution they were created in
the several counties by order of the courts of general
quarter sessions of the peace; after that by the county
commissioners and the associate judges of the court of
common pleas, acting with concurrent jurisdiction, until
the act of the legislature of February 19, rSio, which gave
the county commissioners the exclusive jurisdiction in the
matter they have since retained. Sources of information
are thus, in an old county, widely dispersed through the
offices and records, and full and satisfactory data are ex-
ceedingly difficult, and in this instance probably impossi-
ble to reach. So long ago as 1839, near the middle year
of the county's history, when it would seem to have been
much easier to prosecute the inquiry than now, Mr. H.
McDougal, then county auditor for Hamilton, in answer
to a circular from the Hon. John Brough, State auditor,
issued in pursuance of a legislative requirement of that
year, reported as follows: "I find it almost impossible,
from the data in my possession, to give ;ill the required
information. Most of the townships within the lines of
this county were organized under the Territorial Gov-
ernment. ... I cannot tell when they
were organized." He was able to furnish only the dates
of the organization of Fulton and Storrs, respectively, as
1830 and 1835; and in regard to the former of these he
was clearly mistaken, as Fulton appears in the list of
townships so early as 1826, and it was created, as was
also the township of Symmes, at some time between 1820
and that year. The other township he mentions disap-
peared some years ago, through the growth of the city- to
the westward, which absorbed it; and Fulton was pre-
viously absorbed by its extension to the eastward; so that
these two of the "second growth" townships are al-
ready wiped out.
The original townships in the old Hamilton county
were only Cincinnati, Columbia, and Miami, the three
representing the three settlements on the Ohio in the
Purchase, and together extending the whole distance be-
tween the rivers, their north boundaries being at the
Military Range, on a line six miles north of the present
Springdale. The townships named in the records, down
to 1796-7, were, in the order of their mention: Cincin-
nati, Columbia, Miami, Anderson, Fairfield, Deerfield,
Dayton, Iron Ridge (taken into Adams county in 1797),
South Bend, Colerain, and Springfield.
Iron Ridge township was created on the application of
Nathaniel Massie to the quarter-sessions court in 1793,
to be received among the townships of the Hamilton
county group. The request was granted, and ofScers for
it duly appointed; but the township soon disappeared
from Hamilton county history. It lay north of the Ohio
river, east of White Oak creek, around the town of
Manchester, in what is now Adams county.
Washington township is found mentioned in 1798,
also Ohio and St. Clair; and Franklin township was rec-
ognized in 1797.
The following table of 1799 (which, of course, omits
Iron Ridge, but includes all the others), representing the
assessment for taxation on the several duplicates of the
townships and their acting constables at that time, has
some interest just here :
TOWNSHIPS. ASSESSMENT. CONSTABLES.
Columbia $66056 James Spears.
Cincinnati 723 3° John Bailey.
South Bend 55 69 Robert Levy.
Miami 192 88 John Willdnson.
Anderson 32662 Josiah Crossly.
Colerain 106 81 Allan Shaw.
Springfield 281 15 John Patterson.
Fairfield 26048 Darius Orcutt.
Dayton 23372 Samuel Thompson.
Franklin 282 83 Enos Potter.
Deerfield 37174 William Sears.
Washington ; 339 61 William Laycock.
Ohio 10988 Isaac Miller.
^'- Clair 134 72 John Newcomer.
Total $4,079 99
Fairfield township was laid off by the quarter-sessions
in 1795. It began at the northwest corner of Spring-
field township, thence north along the then Colerain six
miles to its northeast corner; thence west to the Miami;
thence up that stream to a meridian which is the eastern
boundary of township numbered three, in the first entire
range; thence south to Springfield; thence west six miles
to the place of beginning. The brand of its cattle
was ordered to be "H." Its first officers in 1795 were:
John Greer, town clerk; William B. Brawnes, constable;
Patrick Moore, overseer of the poor; Darius Orcutt
supervisor of highways; Charles Bruin, Patrick Moore
and William B. Brawnes, viewers of enclosures and ap-
praisers of damages. Fairfield is, of course, now in But-
ler county. Dayton, of the present county of Mont-
gomery, was also established by the Hamilton County
court in 1795. Benjamin Van Cleve says in his memor-
anda, published in McBride's Pioneer Biography, in a
volume of the Ohio Valley Historical Series, that Day-
ton township included all the Miami country from the
fifth range of townships upward. He took the returns
of taxable property for it in 1801, and found three hun-
dred and eighty-two free male persons over the age of
twenty-one between the two Miamis, from- the south line
of the township to the heads of Mad river and the Great
Miami. West of the latter stream there were twenty-
7°
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
eight such inhabitants in the township, and east of the
Little Miami less than twenty. He received less than
five dollars in fees for his immense toil and exposure in
rendering this public service.
The names of some of the constables previous to this
date have been preserved: Cincinnati township, Abraham
Gary, 1797; Levi McLean, 1798; Columbia, Amos Mun-
son, 1796; James Spears, 1797-8; Miami, Andrew Hill,
1797-8; Anderson, Josiah Crossly, 1797-8; Fairfield,
George Codd, 1797; Darius Orcutt, 1798; Deerfield,
Isaac Lindly, 1797; Joshua Drake; Dayton, Cyrus Os-
born, 1797; James Thompson, 1798; Iron Ridge, Damon
McKinsey, 1796; "South Bend, Isaac Wilson, 1797;
William Cullum, 1798; Colerain, Allan Shaw, 1797;
Springfield, James Lowes, 1797; Washington, Jacob
Williams, 1798; FrankUn, Jos. Henry, 1798.
Colerain township was created in 1794, and Springfield
in 1803. Cincinnati, Miami, and Springfield townships had
important changes made in their boundaries in 1809, by
the creation of Mill Creek and Green townships iri that
year. In 1800 Sycamore township appears to have been
in existence. Whitewater township was erected in
1803, to include all the territory of Hamilton county
west of the Great Miami river. Its boundaries were
more elaborately defined the next year, when Crosby town-
ship was also mentioned, and probably erected at that
time. This is about the sum of the knowledge possessed
in this year of grace 1881, concerning the old townships
of Hamilton county. But more may appear in the
township histories.
CHAPTER X.
PROGRESS OF HAMILTON COUNTY.
Sweet clime of my kindred, blest land of my birth —
The fairest, the dearest, the brightest on earth !
Where'er I may roam,_howe'er blest I may be,
My spirit instinctively turns mito thee.
— Anonymous.
THE FIRST ELEVEN YEARS.
About two thousand people were in the Miami coun-
try, which may be considered as practically identical with
Hamilton county at this time, by 1790, although the first
settler had pitched his camp at Columbia but thirteen
months before. It was a very humble and modest
beginning that the infant county had, except in reach of
fertile territory and the possibilities of the future. Had
a census qualification been required for the erection of a
county in that day, as nowfor the admission of a State to
the Federal Union, it must needs have been a very mod-
erate one, or the Northwest Territory would have waited
longer for the birth of the county which has since be-
come as great in wealth and population, in arts and arms,
and in the higher arts of civilization, as it was then great
in ar:ea and resources waiting to be developed. In a very
few years, however — as soon as the peace of Greenville
gave assurance of safety to the immigrant against Indian
massacre or the plunder of his property — the country
began to fill up with some rapidity. The census of 1800,
the first taken in the county, although its enumerators
probably missed many of the settlers in so wide and
sparsely settled a tract, exhibited the goodly number of
fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one persons as
the white population of Hamilton county. It is interest-
ing to note, in this early day, when the conditions of
life were so different from those prevailing in the older
communities, how this number was divided between the
sexes, and also between the different ages of which the
census makes record. There were, of children under ten
years of age, three thousand two hundred and seventy-
three males, three thousand and ninety females; young
persons between ten and sixteen years, one thousand three
hundred and thirty-five males, one thousand and sixty-five
females; between sixteen and twenty-six, one thousand
five hundred and two males, one thousand two hundred
and ninety-seven females; adults between twenty-six and
forty-five years, one thousand two hundred and fifty-one
males, nine hundred and fifty-four females; over forty-
five, four hundred and eighty males, three hundred and
forty-four females; — total, fourteen thousand six hundred
and ninety-one, of whom seven thousand eight hundred
and forty-one were males, and six thousand eight hun-
dred and fifty females.
The noticeable facts in this brief statement are ;
1. The disparity of the sexes, which was particularly
marked in this country when new. Usually, in a long-
settled community, notably in the State of Massachusetts,
as the censqs shows, the gentler sex is somewhat in the
majority, and sometimes very^much so ; but here we find,
at the end of the first eleven to twelve years of coloniza-
tion, that the males led by very nearly one thousand in
less than fifteen thousand, or by about six and eight-
tenths per cent, of the whole. Or, to make the differ-
ence appear more striking, there were nearly one-sixth
more males than females, or about fifteen per cent. — a
considerable and important difference. Even with young
children, and through all the ages noted, the disparity is
marked; but particularly so in the more vigorous working
ages, from sixteen to twenty-six, and thence to forty-five,
where the percentages of difference are over sixteen and
nearly thirty-one, respectively. Still more striking is the
inequality of numbers where we should least expect it,
among adults over forty-five years of age, where it
amounts, in this case, to forty per cent, advantage in
point of numbers, in favor of the men. These facts ar-
gue well for the ma'terial foundations in Hamilton county,
in the laying of which the male mind, in its maturity and
strength, as well as the muscle of the man in his prime,
were imperatively needed.
2. The comparative paucity of old persons, or of men
and women distantly approaching old age, is to be noted.
Of really aged persons there were probably very few; but
as to this we have no exact data. The census figures
show that, reckoning all down to the age of forty-five,
there were but eight hundred and twenty-four, or only
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
71
five and six-tenths per cent, of the whole; while of those
in the hardier laboring ages there were over nineteen and
fifteen per cent, respectively, leaving for the youngest
children and the younger youth sixty per cent, of the
whole.
3. The last statement offers a fact of considerable in-
terest. Three of every five in the total population were
c hildren under sixteen years of age. This demonstrates
how large a share of the early settlers brought their fam-
ilies with them, apparently coming to stay and aid in lay-
ing the foundations of stable communities, in which law
and order should ever abide. Contrast with this the im-
migration at mining camps and settlements, which usually
consists, with almost absolute exclusiveness, of men only.
The beginnings were certainly well made in Hamilton
county.
THE SECOND DECADE.
In 18 10 the census exhibited a population for the
county of but little more than the enumeration of 1800
had shown — fifteen thousand two hundred and four, or
but five hundred and thirteen more than were in the
county ten years before. It must be borne in mind, how-
ever, that the Hamilton county of 1800 was still, for the
most part, the great county of Governor St. Clair's second
creation — that it might be said, indeed, in a general way,
to be pretty nearly coterminous with the broad and long
"Miami country," since that was estimated to contain
fifteen thousand white people at the beginning of the
century, while the county itself was shown by official
count to have fourteen thousand six hundred and
ninety-one. Ten years later Hamilton had been shorn
of its fair proportions, and reduced to be', as it is now,
one of the smallest counties in the State in territorial
dimensions, having, as we have seen, less than four
hundred square miles. A population of fifteen thou-
sand two hundred and four, or forty to the square
mile, represented a very creditable growth for a county
just coming of age in its twenty-first year. It is also
noteworthy, when placed against the figures of 1800,
which showed scarcely three white persons to the section
in the vast county. In 1810 the Miami tract, formerly
almost identical with Hamilton county, was estimated to
contain seventy thousand civilized inhabitants, or about
one fourth of the entire white and colored population of
the State, indicating that growth of settlement through-
out this region was by no means confined to the Ohio
valley, but extended far up the Miami valleys as well.
Within this decade were founded three of the oldest
villages in the county — Reading, in 1804; Montgomery,
in 1805; and Springfield, in 1806.
THE THIRD DECADE.
The map prefixed to Dr. Drake's Picture of Cincin-
nati, pubhshed in 1815, shows the towns and villages of
the county at that time to have been Cincinnati (three
miles east of Mill Creek), Columbia, Cleves, Colerain,
Crosby, Springfield, Reading, Montgomery, and New-
town, with roads running from Cincinnati to each of
these points, and one other road making into Indiana.
Four years later Cincinnati had become a chartered city,
and Carthage and Miami were added to the list of vil-
lages. Nearly all places in the county were considered
worthy of mention in the State Gazetteer of that year
only as "post towns," with their respective locations and
distances from Cincinnati. The county had now twelve
townships — Cincinnati, Crosby, Colerain, Springfield,
Sycamore, Anderson, Columbia, Mill Creek, Delhi,
Green, Miami, and Whitewater. The aggregate valua-
tion of property in the county, for purposes of taxation,
was five million six hundred and four thousand nine
hundred and fifty-foiir dollars.
By 1815 the beginnings of the Miami and Erie canal
had been projected, so far as an artificial water-way up
the valley of Mill creek to Hamilton would go. The
text of Dr. Drake's Picture notes the mills on this stream
as "numerous, but the loose and unstable composition
of its bed renders the erection of permanent dams as
difficult and expensive, in proportion to its width, as on
the Miamis." Prices of land had greatly appreciated
throughout the county. Judge Symmes and his asso-
ciates, twenty-seven years before, had bought the Pur-
chase for sixty-six and two-thirds cents per acre (really for
sixteen and two-third cents per acre, in specie), and sold
most of it at a uniform price of two dollars, except at
auction, when it often commanded higher rates. The
reserved sections also formed an exception: they were at
one time fiixed to be sold at eight dollars per acre, but
afterwards sold at four. In 1815, Dr. Drake observes:
Within tliree miles of Cincinnati, at tliis time, tlie prices of good
unimproved land are between fifty dollars and one hundred and fifty-
dollars per acre, varying according to the distance. From this point to
the extent of twelve miles, they decline from thirty dollars to ten dol-
lars. Near the principal villages of the Miami country, it commands-
from twenty dollars to forty dollars: in the remaining situations it is
from four to eight dollars — improvements in all cases advancing the
price from twenty-five to four hundred per cent. An average of the
settled parts of the Miami country, still supposing the land fertile and
uncultivated, may be stated at eight dollars; if cultivated, at twelve
dollar's. . . These were not the prices in 1812, the war, by
promoting immigration, having advanced the nominal value of land
from twenty-five to fifty per cent.
Mr. Burnet (not the judge), a traveller through this
region two years afterwards, ina published account of his
journeyings, supplies the following interesting note :
The land round Cincinnati is good. Price, a mile or two from the
city, fifty, eighty, and one hundred dollars per acre, according to qual-
ity and other advantages. This same land, a few years ago, was
bought for two and five dollars per acre. Farms with improvements
ten miles from the town, sell for thirty and forty dollars per acre. Fifty
si.xty, and one hundred miles up the country, good uncleared land may
be bought for from two dollars to five dollars per acre. The farms are
generally worked by the farmer and his family. Labor is dear, and
not to be had under fourteen or sixteen dollars per month and board.
They have but little machinery and no plaster or compost, but what
is made by the farmer is used for manure. Taxes, in the country, are
a mere nothing. Farmers, in any part of the State of Ohio, who have
one hundred acres of their own, well stocked, do not pay above
five to ten dollars per annum.
The population of Hamilton county, in 1820, footed
up thirty-one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four,
divided among the townships as follows: Cincinnati,
nine thousand six hundred and forty-two ; Columbia, two
thousand eight hundred and fourteen; Mill Creek, two
thousand one hundred and ninety-eight; Springfield, two
thousand one hundred and ninety-seven (Springfield vil-
72
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
lagetwo hundred and twenty); Sycamore three thousand
four hundred and sixty-three; Whitewater, one thousand
six hundred and sixty-one ; Anderson, two thousand one
hundred and twenty-two; Colerain, one thousand nine
hundred and six; Crosby, one thousand seven hundred
and twenty-one; Delhi, one thousand one hundred and
fifty-eight; Green, one thousand four hundred and fifty-
six; Miami, one thousand four hundred and twenty-six.
The population of Springfield and Sycamore townships
this year, each appears larger than their respective popu-
lations by the census of 1830; but the formation of new
townships from them sufficiently accounts for that, since
they had then to part with a portion of their people,
thenceforth to be enumerated in the new divisions.
This decade was signalized by the laying-off (or at
least recording the plats) of an extraordinary number,
for the period, of town and village sites. In 1813, by
the date of record, Harrison was founded; in 1815,
Carthage; 1816, New Burlington and Miamistown; 1817,
Elizabeth town and "Symmestown"; 18 18, New Haven,
Cheviot, Sharon, and "Clevestown"; and, in 1819, New
Baltimore. Most of these have survived, at least as local
post offices and hamlets; but others, several in number,
have made little more figure in history or in actual ex-
istence than the countless "paper towns" that studded
the prairies and the banks of western rivers (in imagina-
tion and speculative description and platting) twenty
years later.
THE FOURTH DECADE.
The Ohio State Gazetteer of 182 1 notes: "There has
been an uncommonly rapid increase of emigrants from
other States into this county during several years past;
and, the land being of a peculiarly good quality for the
production of grain, one of the principal articles neces-
sary for subsistence, this county has, therefore, become
an important section of the State."
The thickening of population in parts of the county
made the size of some of the old townships incon-
venient for a part of the voters and residents therein ;
and the new townships of Fulton and Symmes were
presently created. There were fourteen townships iry
1826; Georgetown, Lockland, Lewistown, Madison,
Nassau, and Prospect Hill, were added during the decade
to the list of villages whose plats were recorded; and the
suburb of "Eastern Liberties" was laid off adjacent to
the city of Cincinnati. The population of the county
was estimated that year at forty-four thousand, about one-
eighteenth of all the inhabitants of the State, while the
year before the aggregate value of taxable property in the
county, assessed on the ad valorem system, was six mil-
lion eight hundred and forty-eight thousand four hun-
dred and thirty-three dollars, or more than one-eighth of
the entire valuation of the State. A very satisfactory and
rather remarkable increase in the wealth of the county,
both absolute and relatively to population, as compared
with other parts of the State, is thus shown.
The convictions for crime in Hamilton county during
1826 were: Murder in the first degree, one; rape, one;
perjury, one; assault with intent to murder, one; assault
with intent to commit mayhem, two; stabbing with in-
tent to kill, one; burglary, two; uttering counterfeit
money, three; horse-stealing, three; grand larceny, four;
petit larceny, four; total convictions, twenty-three. So
the county was making progress, unhappily, in the accu-
mulation of a crime record, as well as in more reputable
and honorable affairs.
The census of 1830 exhibited the handsome total of
fifty-two thousand three hundred and eighty, an increase
of twenty-one thousand six hundred and sixteen, or
sixty-six per cent., upon the count of ten years before.
Much of this increase, of course, was in the city, which
had jumped from nine thousand six hundred and forty-
two to twenty-four thousand eight hundred and thirty-one
increasing fifteen thousand one hundred and eighty-nine
people during the decade, or one hundred and fifty-seven
per cent. The remaining townships of the county had
now population as follows : Anderson, two thousand
four hundred and ten; Colerain, one thousand nine hun-
dred and twenty-eight; Columbia, three thousand and
fifty-one; Crosby, one thousand eight hundred and
ninety-five; Delhi, one thousand five hundred and twen-
ty-seven; Fulton, one thousand and eighty-nine; Green,
one thousand nine hundred and eighty-five; Miami, one
thousand five hundred and forty-nine; Mill Creek, three
thousand three hundred and fifty-six; Springfield, three
thousand and twenty-five; Sycamore, two thousand seven
hundred and seventy-nine; Symmes, one thousand one
hundred and fifty-eight; Whitewater, one thousand seven
hundred and thirty-four; total in the townships, twenty-
seven thousand four hundred and eighty-six. This was
the last of the Federal censuses in Hamilton county in
which the country population outnumbered the city, as
it now did, but by only two thousand six hundred and
fifty-five. At the next census Cincinnati was nearly
thirteen thousand in advance of all the county besides.
It had this year twenty-four thousand eight hundred and
thirty-one inhabitants. The total for the county was
fifty-two thousand three hundred and seventeen.
THE FIFTH DECADE.
The enumeration of 1830 showed the population of
each of four of the townships — Columbia, Crosby, Delhi,
and Symmes — to be somewhat greater than it proved to
be at the next census — a falling off to be accounted for in
one case by the erection of a new township (Storrs), which
took place in this decade. The county's growth in most
parts continued hopefully and satisfactorily; and when the
count of 1840 was made, it displayed an increase of
twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and eighty- five, or
nearly fifty per cent, within ten years. Cincinnati had,
as ever in this county since 1810, the lion's share of the
spoils, all the new immigration and natural increase, so
far as represented by the figures upon their face, going to
the city, except six thousand three hundred and twenty-
one. About three-fourths of the total growth of the
county in population was claimed by the city, which now
had forty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-eight
people. The townships were assigned the following
numbers: Anderson, two thousand three hundred and
eleven ; Colerain, two thousand two hundred and seventy
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
73
two; Sycamore, three thousand two hundred and seven;
Columbia, three thousand and forty-three; Fulton, one
thousand five hundred and six; Mill Creek, six thousand
two hundred and forty-nine; Crosby, one thousand eight
hundred and seventy-six; Symmes, one thousand and
thirty-four;. Delhi, one thousand four hundred and sixty-
six; Storrs, one thousand and thirty-four; Green, two
thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine; Miami, two
thousand one hundred and eighty-nine; Springfield, three
thousand and ninety-two; Whitewater, one thousand
eight hundred and eighty-two. Nearly two-fifths of the
increase in the county during this decade belongs to Mill
Creek township, about one-sixth to Green, one-tenth to
Miami, and the rest is pretty nearly divided between the
townships which show any increase. Mill Creek, being
very favorably situated next the'city, had, and retains, so
much of it as is left from the annexations, special advan-
tages for growth. It nearly doubled its population, as
may be seen by comparison of previous sunnnaries of
the census, between 1820 and 1830, and again in the de-
cade 1830-40. The entire population of the county was
now eighty thousand one hundred and forty-five — an
average of a little over two hundred and five to the
square mile, or, leaving out the city's area and popula-
tion, an average of nearly eighty-nine to the mile.
The assessed valuation of property in the county in
1836, as exhibited by the tax duplicate, was nine million,
seven hundred and one thousand, three hundred and
eighty-seven dollars, an increase of nearly fifty per cent
since 1825. The tax paid the former year was one hun.
dred and fifty-nine thousand six hundred and seventy-
eight dollars.
During this decade were founded, according to record-
ed plats, the villages of Carrsville and Walnut Hills, Ver-
non Village, and the suburb of "Northern Liberties."
THE SIXTH DECADE.
The increase in valuation during this period was very
rapid. In 1S41 the valuation of the county was ten mil-
lion, seven hundred and sixty thousand, four hundred
and ninety-four dollars, but one million and fifty-nine
thousand, one hundred and seven dollars more than it
had been for years before. For Cincinnati, however,
now set in an era of great prosperity and growth in man-
ufactures, trade, and commerce; and the valuation in-
creased forty-five millions in nine years. In 1850 it was
fifty-five million, six hundred and seventy thousand, six
hundred and thirty-one dollars; and we may anticipate
the course of this narrative a little by saying just here,
while surprising figures are in hand, that the valuation of
1855 was one hundred and twelve million, nine hundred
and forty-five thousand, four hundred and forty-five dol-
lars; that of 1S60 was one hundred and nineteen million,
five hundred and eight thousand, one hundred and
seventy dollars; that of 1868, one hundred and sixty-six
million, nine hundred and forty-five thousand, four hun-
dred and ninety-seven. The increase in nine years
(1841-50) was over four-fold, and was three-fold in the
nineteen years 1850-69. From i860 to '69 the increase
was thirty-two per cent.
The increase of population in the city of Cincinnati
was not less surprising. In the ten years 1840-50 the
number of its inhabitants had jumped from forty-six
thousand three hundred and thirty-eight to one hundred
and fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty-eight — an
absolute increase of sixty-nine thousand one hundred, or
very nearly one hundred and fifty per cent. — an average
of fifteen per cent, or six thousand nine hundred and
ten persons every year. Nineteen immigrants, on an
average, arrived in this city every day, Sundays and all,
during the ten years. The country, however — the town-
ships— increased but four thousand six hundred and five,
or less than fourteen per cent, during the decade. The
population of the city, by the canvass of 1850, was one
hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty-
eight; of the townships, forty-one thousand four hundred
and twelve; — total, one hundred and fifty-six thousand
eight hundred and fifty.
The Mexican war, which occurred during this decade,
had no appreciable effect in retarding the growth and
prosperity of Hamilton county.
THE SEVENTH DECADE.
At the expiration of this (in i860) the population of
the county had mounted to the high figure of two hundred
and fifteen thousand six hundred and seventy-seven, of
which Cincinnati, with its now seventeen wards, had
nearly three-fourths, or one hundred and sixty-one thou-
sand and forty-four. The remainder of the population
was dispersed as follows: Columbia township, two
thousand nine hundred and thirty-one; Sycamore, three
thousand four hundred and twenty-seven; Anderson,
three thousand four hundred and thirty-nine; Green,
four thousand four hundred and twenty-six; Mill Creek,
thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty-four; Spring-
field, four thousand eight hundred and forty; .Cole-
rain, three thousand nine hundred and thirty-three; Delhi,
two thousand seven hundred; Miami, one thousand six
hundred and eighty-three; Crosby, one thousand one
hundred and eighty-two; (Reading village, one thousand
two hundred and thirty); Whitewater, one thousand four
hundred and twenty-one; Harrison, one thousand three
hundred and fort)'-three; Symmes, one thousand one
hundred and seven; Storrs, three thousand eight hun-
dred and sixty-two; Spencer, two thousand five hundred
and fifty-two. Total, fifty-four thousand six hundred and
thirty-three.
In this decade the village of College Hill was incor-
porated, and several other towns were surveyed and their
plats recorded. The township of Harrison was also
formed.
THE EIGHTH DECADE.
In 1870 the |3opulation of the county was two hun-
dred and sixty thousand three hundred and seventy.
The chief productions of the year, according to the cen-
sus, were one hundred and sixty-two thousand six
hundred and seven bushels of wheat, one million two
hundred and twenty-six thousand seven hundred and
twenty-six of Indian corn, two hundred and sixty-eight
thousand and eighty-nine of oats, ninety-six thousand
74
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
nine hundred and seventy-nine of barley, five hundred
and sixty-two thousand five hundred and thirty-seven of
potatoes, seven hundred and seventy-three thousand
three hundred and eighty-seven pounds of butter, one
hundred and twenty-six thousand four hundred of cheese,
and twenty-five thousand three hundred and four tons of
hay. The county possessed eight thousand five hundred
and thirty-one horses, twelve thousand four hundred and
thirteen milch cows, three thousand two hundred and
fifty-four other cattle, three thousand six hundred and
forty-seven sheep, and twenty-one thousand one hundred
and sixty-five swine. The manufactories of all kinds
numbered two thousand four hundred and sixty-nine,
with a total capital of forty-two million six hundred and
forty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-two dollars, and
an annual product of seventy-eight million nine hundred
and five thousand nine hundred and eighty dollars. The
value of real and personal property in the county in
1870 was three hundred and forty-one million two hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars.
Notwithstanding the great civil war during nearly half
of this decade, the growth of the county was very satis-
factory. Lockland, Mt. Airy, Cumminsville, Woodburn,
Avondale, Riverside, Mt. Washington, and Carthage, were
incorporated and the foundations of other flourishing
villages were laid.
THE NINTH DECADE.
The earlier part of this was marked by numerous
annexations to the city, which rapidly grew from seven to
twenty-four square miles, and corresponding losses to
the townships. The census of 1880, in consequence of
the financial crisis and industrial prostration which
characterized nearly all the years of this decade, did not
exhibit surprising growths of'population for either city or
county. Still, the increase was healthy, and on the
whole satisfactory, being fourteen thousand one hundred
and thirty-one for the townships, or about thirty-two per
cent, for the decade; and in the city thirty-nine thousand
three hundred and sixty-nine, or about eighteen per cent.
The totals of population for the townships were fifty-
eight thousand two hundred and sixty-two; for the city,
two hundred and fifty-five thousand six hundred and
eight; aggregate for the county, three hundred and thir-
teen thousand eight hundred and seventy. Most of the
townships showed a good increase, and Columbia had
nearly trebled its population.
THE CENSUSES.
A comparative statement or table of the censuses taken
by the Federal officers since the first enumeration of the
county was made, will help to the -rapid comprehension
of its growth from year to year. For those of 1800 and
1810 we have the total footings for the county, from
which the aggregate population of the townships is ob-
tained by subtracting the known population of Cincinnati
at the respective periods :
TOWNSHIPS.
Anderson
yColerain
Columbia
Crosby
Delhi
Fulton
/6reen
v Harrison..
Miami
Mill Creek
Spencer
Springfield
Storrs
Sycamore
Symmes
Whitewater
Total
Cincinnati
Total for the county.
13.942
750
14.692
22,122
9,642
31.764
2,410
1,928
3.051
1.89s
1.527
1,089
I.S49
3.356
2,779
1,158
1.734
27,486
24,831
1840.
2,311
2,272
3.043
1,876
1,466
1,506
2,939
2,189
6,249
740
3,092
1.034
3.207
1.034
34,840
46.338
81,178
1850.
3.050
3.125
2,416
2,488
1,942
3,323
3,951
1,557
6,287
1,656
3.632
1.675
3.731
1,115
1.567
41.515
"S.438
'56.953
3,439
3.933
2,931
4,426
2,059
1,683
13,844
2,552
4,840
3,862
3.427
1. 107
1,421
53,406
161,044
1870.
4,077
3.689
3.184
2,514
2,620
4,358
758
2,105
3.291
2.543
6,548
5,460
1.377
44.133
216,239
260, 372
4,158
3,721
9,101
1,043
4,738
4,854
2,279
2,317
".235
998
7.979
6,374
1,633
1,575
67,005
255,608
322,613
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
75
The indebtedness of Hamilton county July, 1879, was
but four hundred and two thousand five hundred and
ninety-eight dollars, principally in court-house building
bonds.
• The valuations of personal property in Hamilton county
for 1879 and 1880, exclusive of Cincinnati, which will be
found hereafter, as returned for taxation to the county
auditor's office last June are as follows:
TOWNSHIPS AND COKPORATIONS.
Anderson Tp., Northern Pt.*
Anderson Tp. , Central Pt
Anderson Tp. , Southern Pt
Mt. Washington Cor.,* Anderson Tp,
Colerain Tp. , Northeastern Pt
Colerain Tp., Southwestern Pt
Columbia Tp., Eastern Pt
Columbia Tp., Western Pt
Columbia Tp., Central Pt
Columbia, Oakley Pt
Madisonville Cor., Columbia Tp
Crosby Tp
Delhi Tp., Eastern Pt
Delhi Tp., Western Pt
Riverside Cor., Delhi Tp
Home City, Delhi Tp
Green Tp., Northeastern Pt
Green Tp., Northwestern Pt
Green Tp. , Southeastern Pt a.
Green Tp. , Southwestern Pt
Mt. Airy Cor., Green Tp
Westwood Cor. , Green Tp
Harrison Tp
Harrison Cor. , Harrison Tp
Miami Tp
Cleves Cor. , Miami Tp
North Bend Cor., Miami Tp
Millcreek Tp., Bond Hill Pt
Millcreek Tp. Northeastern Pt
Millcieek Tp., St. Bernard Pt
Millcreek Tp., Winton Pt
Avondale Cor. , Millcreek Tp
Carthage Cor. , Millcreek Tp
Clifton Cor., Millcreek Tp
College Hill Cor., Millcreek Tp
Mt. Airy Cor., Millcreek Tp
St. Bernard Cor., Millcreek Tp
Western Pt., Millcreek Tp
College Hill Pt., Millcreek Tp
Soencer Tp. , Southern Pt
Linwood Cor. , Spencer Tp
Springfield Tp. , Eastern Pt
Springfield Tp., Western Pt
Springfield, Northeastern Pt
Springfield, Southeastern Pt
Carthage Cor. , Springfield Tp
Glendale Cor., Springfield Tp
Hartwell Cor., Springfield Tp
Lockland Cor., Springfield Tp
Wyoming Cor., Springfield Tp
Sycamore Tp., Eastern Pt
Sycamore Tp. , Sharon^^lle Pt
Sycamore Tp. , Reading Pt
Lockland Cor., Sycamore Tp
Reading Cor., Sycamore Tp
Symmes Tp., Northern Pt
Symmes Tp., Camp Dennison Pt. . . .
Loveland Cor., Symmes Tp
West Loveland Pt., Symmes Tp
Riverside, Storrs Tp
Whitewater Tp., Northern Pt
Whitewater Tp. , Southern Pt
PERSON-
BONDS,
PERSON-
ALTY,
ETC.,
ALTY,
1880.
1880.
1879.
$141,335
$
$152,750
100,632
7,876
100,929
92,139
4.515
90,988
58,720
19,940
45.586
283,543
16,900
288,034
77.225
1,100
77.350
85,822
9,420
80,288
247,863
35.750
225,688
122,925
36,060
122,456
133.8.56
12,700
317.709
80,211
49.450
91,309
205,882
1. 195
204,498
170.557
9,600
160,008
91,822
5.650
133.923
57, 806
55.767
36.850
3.150
60,637
4.450
61,161
68,486
5.090
62,942
112,366
47.750
118,732
67,003
1,000
67,056
14.733
30,400
15,286
105,722
4.750
93.508
105,173
9,500
112,283
188,268
6,680
193,822
65.792
1,500
62,874
20,825
20,207
202,490
300
147,490
54.533
58.150
30.580
6,628
32,210
20,044
160,917
143.138
525.114
11,000
586,182
27,065
11,950
25.863
548.753
484.254
347.614
73.900
76.614
13.693
14,712
119.953
3.500
103,074
46,026
46,386
9.005
13.583
11,582
651
15,072
43.847
4.300
39.527
28,132
2,100
29,691
320,433
55.050
315.242
257.493
1,200
256.558
32.474
14,303
37,760
9,188
5.987
136,306
143,089
47.567
8,600
50.455
68,433
47.100
54.557
183,967
6,000
165,361
165.794
5.435
146,777
186,373
7,605
158,078
95.898
700
88,000
68,997
70, 146
70,819
2.550
69. 137
81,008
12,600
100,113
26, 107
4,000
14.454
17.433
13.179
19.961
76,385
92,698
68,175
68,669
53.530
20,450
70,968
BONDS,
ETC.,
930
1,850
25.778
54.935
3,196
14,600
5,600
4.250
8,000
11,000
500
9,050
3,900
9,500
59.627
4.500
2,500
400
3,000
42,050
5,400
22,200
17.550
6,100
2,500
10,165
The comparative statement for 1879-80 of the taxable
value of new structures erected during those years, in all
parts of the county, except Cincinnati, is as follows.
The figures are presumed to represent the actual value
added to the property by the improvements of those years :
Precinct — Corporation.
TOWNSHIPS AND CORPORATIONS.
Anderson Township, Northern Precinct
Anderson Township, Central Precinct
Anderson Township, Southern Precinct . .
Mt. Washington Corporation, Anderson Township
Colerain Township, Northeastern Precinct
Colerain Township, Southwestern Precinct
Columbia Township, Eastern Precinct
Columbia Township, Western Precinct
Columbia Township, Central Precinct
Columbia, Oakley Precinct
Madisonville Corporation, Columbia Township.. . .
Crosby Township
Delhi Township, Eastern Precinct
Delhi Township, Western Precinct
Riverside Corporation, Delhi Township
Home City Delhi Township
Green Township, Northeastern Precinct
Green Township, Northwestern Precinct
Green Township, Southeastern Precinct
Green Township, Southwestern Precinct
Mt. Airy Corporation, Green Township
Westwood Corporation Green Township
Harrison Township
Harrison Corporation, Harrison Township
Miami Township
Cleves Corporation, Miami Township
North Bend Corporation, Miami Township
Millcreek Township, Bond Hill Precinct.
Millcreek Township, Northeastern Precinct
Millcreek Township, St. Bernard Precinct
Millcreek Township, Winton Precinct
Avondale Corporation, Millcreek Township
Carthage Corporation, Millcreek township
Chfton Corporation, Millcreek township
College Hill Corporation, Millcreek Township. . . .
Mt. Airy Corporation, Millcreek Township
St. Bernard Corporation, Millcreek Township
Western Precinct, Millcreek Township
Spencer Township, Southern Pr;cinct
Linwood Corporation Spencer Township
Springfield Township, Eastern Precinct
Springfild Township, Western Precinct
Springfield Township Northeastern Precinct
Springfield Township, Southeastern Precinct
Carthage Corporation, Springfield Township
Glendale Corporation, Springfield Township
Hartwell Corporation, Springfield Township
Lockland Corporation, Springfield Township
Wyoming Corporation, Springfield Township
Sycamore Township, Eastern Precinct
Sycamore Township, Sharonville Precinct
Sycamore Township, Reading Precinct
Lockland Corporation, Sycamore Township
Reading Corporation, .Sycamore Township.
Symmes Township, Northern Precinct
Symmes Township, Camp Dennison Precinct
Loveland Corporation, Symmes Township
Riverside, Storrs Township
Whitewater Township, Northern Precinct
Whitewater Township, Southern Precinct ■.
TAXABLE
VALUATION
NEW STRUCT-
URES.
1880.
1879.
$ 2,850
$
3.975
1,800
825
900
1,800
1,800
2.100
5.900
1.950
700
750
3.850
2,450
2,680
2,300
2,100
1,200
10,200
7.100
3.370
2,850
800
1.450
5,460
6,300
7,600
19.450
4,600
1,700
1.650
3.940
1,500
1,650
6, goo
3,100
3.300
2,140
350
1,400
10,600
3.520
600
1. 575
3.250
1,700
1,800
3.950
3.650
7,500
10,650
5,200
6,050
2,500
250
22,500
17.750
9,100
13.300
4.375
1,500
620
1,050
200
2,100
900
1,800
4,000
3,100
2,550
2,450
2,200
1,500
11,000
300
6,800
3,400
10,380
4,780
1,200
6,300
2,275
2,750
6,500
800
2,100
2,606
1.250
900
2,420
1.500
680
500
1,300
1.050
1,700
1,700
930
As a sort of a foot-note or appendix to these notes
of progress, we here more appropriately, perhaps, than
anywhere else in this division of the History, make men-
tion of
SOME FIRST THINGS.
The first church built in Hamilton county was that at
Columbia, for the Baptist society, organized in that set-
tlement March 24, 1790. It was, further, the first meet-
ing-house erected in the territory now covered by the
state of Ohio, except the church building of the Mora-
vian missionaries at Schonebrunn and Gnadenhutten, in
the valley of the Tuscarawas.
The first ordination of a clergyman in the Miami coun-
try was that of the Rev. Daniel Clark, a young Baptist
minister at Columbia, by the Rev. Messrs. Gano and Smith,
in a grove of elms near that place, September 23, 1793.
76
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
The first school in the county was opened July 21,
1790, also in Columbia, by John Reily, afterwards a
distinguished citizen of Butler and Hamilton counties.
The next year Francis Dunlavy was joined in the. in-
struction of the school, taking a classical department,
while Mr. Reily confined his labors to the English stu-
dies. The first regular school-house was probably there.
The first ferry from the front of Hamilton county on
the river to the Kentucky shore at the present site of Cov-
ington was run in 1790 by Robert and Thomas Kennedy,
one of whom lived at each end of the line. The first to
Newport was run by Captain Robert Benham, under a
license from the Territorial government, granted Septem-
ber 24, 1792, from Cincinnati to the opposite bank, the
present Newport, on the east side of the Licking.
The first mill run in Hamilton county was started by
Mr. Neaiad Coleman, a citizen of Columbia, soon after the
planting of the colony. It was a very simple affair, quite
like that known at Marietta in the early day, and figured
in Dr. S. P. Hildreth's Pioneer History. The flat-
boats were moored side by side near the shore, but in the
current, and with sufficient space between them for the
movement of a water-wheel. The grindstones, with the
grain and flour or meal handled, were in one boat, and
the machin'ery in another. This rude mill, kept going
by the cultivation 'of the rich soil at or near Colum-
bia, was the chief source of supply for the soldiers of
Fort Washington and the citizens of Cincinnati for one
or two years. Without it, there would at one time, at least,
have been danger of abandonment of the fort, if not of
the settlements. Before its construction, settlers who had
no access to hand-mills or who wished to economize their
labor, went far into Kentucky to get their grinding done.
At one time Noah Badgeley and three other Cincinnati
settlers went up the Licking to Paris, for a supply of
breadstuff, and on their return were caught in a flood,
their boat overturned, Badgeley drowned, and the others
exposed to peril and privation upon branches of trees in
the raging waters for two or three days. It is possible
that Coleman's mill is identical with that mentioned in
early annals as the property of one Wickerslham (Wicker-
ham he is called in Spencer's Indian Captivity, probably
by error of the types), which is sometimes referred to as
the first mill, and was situated at a rapid of the Little
Miami, a little below the Union bridge, where Philip Tur-
pin's mill was afterwards erected.
Soon after Coleman started his grist-mill, another, but
of different character, was built on Mill creek, near Cin-
cinnati. A horse-mill existed in that town at a very early
day, near the site of the First Presbyterian church, and
some of the meetings of that society were held in it.
The first cases of capital punishment in the county
occurred at the southeast end of Fort Washington in
1789 — the execution of two soldiers, John Ayers and
Matthew Ratn:iore, for desertion. The first execution by
the civil authorities was that of John May, in Cincinnati,
near the close of the century, by hanging, under sentence
for the murder of his friend, Wat Sullivan, whom he stab-
bed with a hunting-knife during a drunken brawl at a
party given in a log cabin then standing near the corner
of Sixth and Main streets. He was hanged by Sheriff
Ludlow, at the spot on the south side of Fifth street, east
of Walnut, where B. Cavagna now has his grocery store,
and where the first jail stood. The country for fifty
miles around turned out its population to see the execu-
tion.
Other "first things" will be recorded in connection
with the special histories of Cincinnati and other parts of
the county, where full notes will be made of these to
which we have given rapid mention.
CHAPTER XL
MILITARY HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY.
The landis holy where they fouglu,
And holy where they fell ;
For by their blood that land was bought,
The land they loved so well.
Then glory to that valiant band,
The honored saviors of the land !
The God of battles heard their cry,
And sent to them the victory.
They left the plowshare in the mould,
Their flocks and herds without a fold.
The sickle in the unshorn grain.
The corn, half garnered, on the plain;
And mustered, in their simple dress.
For wrongs to seek a stern redress.
To right their wrongs, come weal, come woe.
To perish, or o'ercome their foe.
A BRILLIANT RECORD.
Probably no county in the United States — certainly
none in the States that date their origin since the war of
the Revolution — has a more brilliant military record than
Hamilton county. In the Indian period, during the last
war with Great Britain, the skirmish with Mexico, and
the great civil war, the men of Cincinnati, and of Hamil-
ton county at large, bore full and honorable part. Their
patriotism from the beginning has been clear and un-
doubted; their readiness to serve the country in any hour
of its peril has been equally manifest, whenever the occa-
sion for its exhibition has come. From Fort Washington,
near the old Cincinnati, marched the troops ofHarmar, of
St. Clair, and of Wayne, in their several campaigns
against the savages of the north country; and hence,
much later, moved gaily out, likewise on the Hamilton
road, and one bright May morning, the Fourth regiment
of infantry in the Federal army, which formed the main
stay of the beleaguered force at the battle of Tippecanoe.
From Hamilton county went large and gallant contin-
gents in the War of 181 2-15 and the war with Mexico;
and her contingent in the war of the Rebellion was num-
bered by many thousands — a very large percentage, in-
deed, of the entire force (three hundred and ten thou-
sand six hundred and fifty-four men) recruited in the
State of Ohio during the struggle. It is doubtful whether
any city in the Union furnished more men to the Federal
cause, in proportion to its population, than Cincinnati.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
77
The record of the entire county, in this regard, is greatly
to its honor. Of one hundred thousand two hundred
and twenty-four men raised for the Union army in Ohio
in 1861, eight thousand one hundred and ninety-two, or
very nearly one-twelfth, were from this one county. It
had at any time, considering its numerous population,
but an exceedingly light requisition upon it for drafted
militia. The total quota assigned it for draft during the
war was but two thousand one hundred and forty-eight,
of which one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine were
furnished in voluntary recruits, and the actual entire
draft from Hamilton county, in the four years of war,
was but a paltry one hundred and seventy-eight. Through
some accident, neglect, or failure of calculation — for it
cannot have been through inability to procure the men,
or other necessity — this still left the trifling deficit of
ninety-five men. But there were only twenty-three coun-
ties in all the State that were not deficient in the filling
of their quotas; and six of the counties in which there
was a shortage exhibit on their military record, notwith-
standing the immense disparity of population, greater de-
ficits than does Hamilton county. The general work and
record of the county during the bloody years are better
shown by the statistical history of 1862. Upon the first
of September of that year, the number of enrolled militia
in the county was thirty-nine thousand nine hundred and
twenty-six, of whom the volunteers in the armies of the
Union numbered fourteen thousand seven hundred and
ninety-five. The number then ordered to be drafted was
one thousand one hundred and seventy-five; but so rapid
were the enlistments, and so many errors were demon-
strated in the figuring of the enrolling, recruiting, and
mustering officers that the number was more than made
good (credits of one thousand five hundred and twenty-
nine men being obtained through volunteers and errors
shown), and there was consequently no draft.
AT FIRST.
In almost the earliest days of Cincinnati and Colum-
bia, as we have seen in chapter IX., and shall see more
fully hereafter, provision was made for an organized mili-
tia. One of the first acts of Governor St. Clair, after the
erection of Hamilton county, was the appointment of
officers at these two places for a battalion of militia; and
the protection and defence of the settlements, and the
punishment of the marauding and murdering savages,
which had before proceeded in an irregular though
effective way, was thenceforth under the eye of the Terri-
torial government. Some of the officers and men of the
early companies greatly distinguished themselves after-
wards in the battles of Indian warfare and the War of
1812, and not a few laid down their lives upon the bloody
fields. Since the date of their enrollment, ninety years
ago, Hamilton county has never been without an organ-
ized military force of her own.
harmar's campaign and defeat.
About the middle of the year 1790, Governor St.
Clair, upon his return to Fort Washington from a pro-
tracted tour of official duty in the more distant parts of
the Territory, beginning with the creation of Hamilton
county at Cincinnati the previous January, had a pro-
longed consultation with General Harmar, who had
shortly before, in April, led an unsuccessful expedition
against the Indians of the Scioto valley. As a result of
the council, it was determined to send a force against the
Indians of the Maumee, whose depredations upon the
settlements along the Ohio had become persistent and
exceedingly annoying. St. Clair accordingly issued cir-
cular letters to the militia commanders in Kentucky, Vir-
ginia, and western Pennsylvania, calling out their troops
to reinforce the regular army for this campaign. The lat-
ter formed but two small battalions, commanded by
Majors Wyllys and Doughty, with an artillery company of
three field-guns. The Pennsylvania and Virginia militia
formed another battalion, under Colonel John Hardin;
and the Kentuckians mustered three battalions, com-
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Trotter. Virginia seems
not to have sent enough troops to form a separate organ-
ization, and the whole force for the expedition consisted
of but one thousand four hundred and fifty-three men, of
whom only three hundred and twenty were regular sol-
diers. They were very poorly equipped, having few of
the necessaries of military life,. as camp kettles and axes;
and their arms were generally in bad condition, many of
them absolutely unfit for service. Some of the Pennsyl-
vanians had no arms whatever. Not a few old and in-
firm men and mere boys also appeared among the mili-
tia. The temper of the volunteers, too, was by no means
good. They were averse to act with the regular troops,
and manifested considerable jealousy of them, giving the
commander of the expedition. General Harmar, a deal
of trouble. There were also unfortunate quarrels for
precedence among the principal officers of the volun-
teers, in which they were stubbornly backed by the men
of their respective commands.
On the twenty-second of September, Major Wyllys
arrived with his detachment of regulars from the garrison
at the falls of the Ohio; on the twenty-fifth came Major
Doughty with part of the Fort Harmar garrison, and
Lieutenant Frothingham followed soon after with the
remainder. The last of the Pennsylvanians came on the
twenty-fifth. The Kentuckians had not all arrived when
the march began; but, as the tardy volunteers were dra-
goons and mounted riflemen, they were able to overtake
the moving column, which they did on the fifth of Oc-
tober.
About the thirtieth of the previous month, General
Harmar moved his force from Fort Washington by a
route represented to him by his guides as the shortest
and best to the objective points of his campaign, and en-
camped about ten miles from the fort. Had he been able
here, as Wayne afterwards was, in the Mill creek valley,
to halt for better organization and equipment of his mot-
ley command, and for drill and other necessary prepara-
tion for the field, a happier story might be told of the
result. He decided to go on at once, however; and on
the thirteenth of October the little army neared the
Maumee villages. Colonel Hardin was detached with a
company of regulars and six hundred militia, as an ad-
vance party to find the enemy and keep them engaged
78
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
until the main body could get up. He found the towns
abandoned; and when the remainder of the column
arrived, on the morning of the seventeenth, they were
destroyed, with a large quantity of corn, estimated at
twenty thousand bushels, standing in the fields. This
was the only real damage inflicted upon the savages by
the campaign, and alone redeemed the movement from
absolute failure. Colonel Trotter was then sent with
three hundred men to scout in the woods, but to no
effect; and Colonel Hardin, on the nineteenth, led an-
other reconnoisance in force. Falling in with a much
smaller party of the enemy and being fired upon, the
whites, without even stopping to form line of battle, dis-
gracefully retreated in disorder, losing nine militiamen
and twenty-four regulars killed. Two days afterwards,
the whole army began to retire; but on the night of that
day, the twenty-first, Hardin obtained permission to lead
another detachment the next morning back to the site of
the Indian villages in hopes of finding and punishing
the enemy. He did so, and was again defeated with
much loss ; when further aggressive operations were sus-
pended. The scene of these disasters was near Keki-
onga, an Indian village opposite the subsequent site of
Fort Wayne. The army returned in an orderly way, by
slow and easy marches, to Fort Washington, pursued
cautiously by the red men, who did no serious injury.
Arrived at the fort, the militia were disbanded and dis-
missed, and the regulars sent again to their garrisons.
Harmar hastened to Washington, resigned his commis-
sion, and demanded a court of inquiry, which was
ordered. Its finding substantially vindicated him, and
put the blame of the failure of the expedition mainly
upon the inefficiency of the militia force and the insuffi-
ciency of their equipment.
Wilkinson's expedition.
In July following, at Governor St. Clair's suggestion,
the Kentucky board of war — a body of leading citizens
and militia officers authorized by Congress — determined
upon an expedition against the Elk River Indian towns,
in the present Indiana country. It was to rendezvous at
Fort Washington, and be under command of Colonel
Wilkinson, of that post. On the twentieth of July the
Kentuckians duly arrived and mounted, and provis-
ioned for thirty days, began to assemble at the fort, and
on the first of the next month a column of five hundred
and twenty-five men began the movement. It marched
first upon the Maumee villages, but without provoking an
engagement, Wilkinson intending merely to feint in this
direction, and on the sixth, after some skirmishing,
reached an extensive Ouiatenon village called L'Anguille,
on Eel river, near its debouchure into the Wabash. It
was captured and destroyed, together with two hundred
acres of corn in the milk, a number of Indians being
killed and others taken prisoners. Among the latter were
the son and sisters of the Ouiatenon chief or "King," as
Wilkinson calls him in the official report. Advancing to
the prairies of western Indiana a small Kickapoo town
was burned and the standing corn destroyed, and on the
twenty-first of the month, after a march of four hundred
and fifty-one miles from Fort Washington, he reached
safely the falls of the Ohio, where the expedition was dis-
banded.
ST. CLAIR'S C.\MP.4.IGN AND DEFEAT.
The Indians derived great encouragement from the
retreat of General Harmar, although exceedingly exasper-
ated by the destruction of their villages and crops, and
they harried the frontier settlements worse than before.
Another expedition became necessary to punish them, and
also to establish a military post at an important strategic
point, near the junction of the St. Joseph's and St. Mary's
rivers, at the head of the Maumee. Governor St. Clair,
having been made a major-general in the regular army
and commander in chief of the forces in the northwest,
was entrusted with the command in this campaign, with
General Richard Butler second in authority. They
began preparations early in 1791, and by the middle of
July the first regiment of the Federal troops, numbering
two hundred and sixty-nine men, reached Fort Washing-
ton. Two thousand and three hundred militia and
regulars, most of whom were raw recruits, were soon
gathered there, and after encamping for a season at Lud-
low's Station (now Cumminsville), six miles from the
fort, along which is now "Mad Anthony" street, the
army marched, September 17th, to the Great Miami,
where the city of Hamilton now stands, and where Fort
Hamilton — named, like this county, from the then Secre-
tary of the Treasury — was built by St. Clair's men, a
strong, well-constructed work, about one thousand feet in
circuit. Leaving a sufficient garrison and resuming the
march forty-four miles further, the troops halted again
for twelve days, to buiUi Fort Jefferson, six miles south
of the present site of Greenville. October 24th the
final advance into the Indian country began, but under
many difficulties. St. Clair was seriously ill with the
gout, having to be carried on a litter; the men were
deserting singly and in large parties; the trails were ex-
ceedingly difficult for artillery and wagons; provisions
were scant, and the march proceeded very slowly and
toilsomely. Only about fourteen hundred men and
eighty-six officers remained when the scene of action
was reached, on the third of November. This was upon
a branch of the Wabash river, just south of the head-
waters of the St. Mary of the Maumee, which was the
stream to which St. Clair supposed he had arrived.
Fort Recovery was afterward built upon the battlefield,
and a town of the same name still perpetuates its mem-
ory.
The very next morning, at daylight, the Indians at-
tacked in great force. The first pressure came upon the
militia, who, as in Harmar's defeat, speedily gave way,
and in their retreat threw two of the regular battalions
into much disorder. The enemy were, however, checked
and temporarily driven back, but their fire was heavy
and very deadly, particularly among the officers, and the
raw troops were soon in precipitate flight, abandoning
the camp and artillery, and strewing the line of retreat with
their arms and accoutrements. Major Clark's battalion
courageously covered the retreat, and prevented the
absolute destruction of the columns. The race to the
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
79
rear was maintained without Halt until Fort Jefferson,
twenty-nine miles distant, was reached about sunset of the
same day. Eight hundred and ninety men and sixteen
officers, more than sixteen per cent, of the whole number
engaged — were left dead or wounded in this engagement.-
It is accounted the most terrible reverse the American
arms ever suffered from, the Indians — even more disas-
trous than Braddock's defeat. * It was but a feeble rem-
nant of the expedition that finally, four days after the
defeat, found rest and shelter within the walls of Fort
Washington.
Among the killed were General Butler, the heio of
the Fort Finney treaty, and second in command of the
expedition. Lieutenant Colonel ©Idham, and other
prominent officers. The wounded included Colonel
Winthrop Sargent, of Cincinnati, secretary of the North-
west Territory, and the Viscount Malartie, a foreigner of
distinction, serving as a volunteer aid upon St. Clair's
staff. He had been a captain in the guard of Louis
XVI, but left it to join the Gallipolis colony, and volun-
teered as an aid-de-camp to St. Clair when his expedition
reached that point on its way down the river. After the
defeat and his wound, which was severe, he had no
stomach for more Indian fighting, and soon made his
way to Philadelphia, and thence back to France.
Colonel Wilkinson succeeded St. Clair as commandant
at Fort Washington; and in the following January, the
troops being idle, he called for volunteers from the sur-
rounding county to reinforce his two hundred regulars
for an expedition to the scene of defeat, to bury the
dead, and bring off the cannon and other public property-
that might have been left by the Indians upon the field.
The yeomanry of ^Hamilton county, and some of the
neighboring Kentuckians, promptly responded, and
rendezvoused at the fort. The snow lay two feet'deep
upon the ground, deeper than had been known since the
white -man's occupancy of that region; and the ice was
so thick in the Ohio that the Kentucky volunteers.£ould
not ferry their horses over, and had to cross them upon a
still stronger tract of ice above the mouth of the Little
Miami. On the twenty-fifth of the month Wilkinson
moved out, upon the trace opened by St. Clair, and en-
camped the first night upon the hill south of Mount
Pleasant, afterwards occupied by Cary's academy, and
the second night at Fort Hamilton. By the time he
reached Fort Jefferson the difficulties and hardships of
the march were telling severely upon the detachment,
and he determined to send back the regulars, retaining
the mounted volunteers and the public sleds whereon to
bring off the guns. With these he reached the theatre
of St. Clair's disaster on the first of February, finding
the snow there also deep, but not completely concealing
the remains of the dead. As many of these as could
be conveniently found under the circumstances were
collected and buried in pits; but so many remained un-
buried that persons with Wayne's expedition eighteen
months afterwards reported, doubtless with exaggeration
(since the Indians carry off their dead), that six hundred
*Western Annals, third edition, 585.
skulls were found upon the field, and that it was neces-
sary to clear the tents of bones before beds could be
spread upon the surface. Three gun-carriages were
found and brought away, with some small arms; five
others had been so damaged as to be useless. The can-
non had disappeared; but as the adjacent creek was
covered with thick ice and snow, a thorough search in it,
where it was believed they had been thrown, was not
practicable. They were subsequently found, however,
and mounted on Fort Recovery, where they were used
M'ith effect during Wayne's occupancy of the battle-
ground. Evidences were observed of great cruelties in-
flicted by the savages upon the unfortunates of St. Clair's
expedition who had been left wounded upon the field.
Wilkinson was not disturbed by the enemy during his
brief campaign of humanity, and he returned quietly to
Fort Washington when its object was accomplished.
Wayne's campaign and victory.
The most vigorous measures on the part of the Gen-
eral Government were now necessary to preserve the
frontier settlements in the northwest from destruction
and to prevent the early reflux of the advancing wave of
civilization. A competent leader was first in demand.
From a number of able officers of the army, most of them
Revolutionary heroes, whose names were submitted to
President Washington, he selected the hero of the storm-
ing of Stony Point, the brave "Mad Anthony Wayne" —
he who showed so much method, withal, in his madness.
In June, 1792, Wayne reached Pittsburgh, with ample
powers, and set about the slow, yet, as the sad experience
of Harmar and St. Clair had proved, the indispensable
preparations necessary to success. He addressed him-
self at once to the recruiting and drill of the new "Le-
gion of the United States," which was presently, by a
bloody victory, to pacificate the savages of the northwest.
Establishing a camp on the Ohio, twenty-two miles be-
low Pittsburgh — called "Legionville," from the title of
his army — he gathered, by December, a considerable
force there. About the last of April, 1793, he moved it
down the river to Fort Washington, and thence, as it was
too numerous to occupy that work, out to a camp he
formed in the Mill Creek valley, near the village of Cin-
cinnati, about the spot upon which the gas-works were
long afterwards erected. This camp was designated by
him as "Hobson's Choice," since it was the only one in
the vicinity which the high water of that spring made eli-
gible for the purpose.
The following is Judge Burnet's interesting note upon
the selection of this camp:
On tlie arrival of General Wayne, at Cincinnati, witli the troops
from Legionville, late in 1793, he ordered the quartermaster, with two
or three of his officers, to make a careful examination of the grounds
adjoining the town, and select the most eligible spot for the construc-
tion of an encampment. After a careful execution of the order, they
reported that there was no situation near the town, on which the army
could be conveniently encamped, and that tlie only ground which was
in any degree calculated for the purpose was on the river bank, between
the village and Mill creek. The general replied, "if that be so, we
have Hobson's choice, and must take it." From that expression the
place selected was immediately called "Hobson's Choice," and ha.s
been known by that name ever since. The general was evidently a
reader of the Spectator, or was at least familiar with the term which
has its origin in a notable chapter of that work.
8o
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Here the work of organizing and drilling the soldiers
went steadily on through the summer. Washington
wrote to Wayne: "Train and discipline them for the
service they are meant for; and do not spare powder and
lead, so the men be made marksmen." One of Wayne's
sentinels at this time was posted upon the lofty ancient
mound which stood until 1841 at the intersection of
Mound and Fifth streets. The force suffered much from
fevers and influenza and by desertion. Wayne also found
it difficult to obtain the mounted volunteers he wanted
from Kentucky, as the militia of that State retained the
old prejudices, and disliked to serve with regulars. All
obstacles were, however, gradually overcome; and on the
seventh of October, the faithful and well directed efforts
of the Government to secure peace by diplomacy having
so far failed, the army began an aggressive campaign.
It numbered two thousand si.x hundred regular troops,
three hundred and sixty mounted militia, and thirty-six
guides and scouts. One thousand Kentucky volunteers,
under General Charles Scott, joined it, soon after, at Fort
Jefferson. A strong position six miles in front of this work
was occupied on the thirteenth, and held for several
months, while the "peace talks" with the Indians were
renewed by the commissioners of the Government. On
the sixth of November the Kentucky mounted infantry
had a sharp affair with the Indians not far from Fort St.
Clair, a work constructed near the present site of Eaton,
Preble county, in which the whites lost some men and
nearly all their horses.
Wayne's army, now called the "Northwestern," win-
tered at the new camp on the Stillwater branch of the
Miami. It was fortified, and many cabins put up during
the season. Wayne gave the group of huts and fort the
name of Greenville, which was retained for the flourish-
ing town that now covers its site. Here he awaited the
arrival of the convoys with provisions, and continued
his preparations for the struggle. About the last of De-
cember a detachment was sent forward to the field of
St. Clair's defeat, which built and garrisoned Foit Recov-
ery there. Under the walls of that work an escort of
one hundred and fifty men, commanded by Major Mc-
Mahon, was attacked by a thousand Indians, led by Lit-
tle Turtle, the noted Miami chief; but they were beaten
off, after a severe action, with great slaughter. The next
month Wayne was joined by sixteen hundred mounted
volunteers from Kentucky, and on the twenty-eighth of
July, 1794, he began his first movement against the
enemy. August 8th, the army reached Grand Glaize,
near the union of the Auglaise and Maumee, where Fort
Defiance was built, and Wayne despatched a firm but
conciliatory message to the Indians. In reply they gent
word that if he would wait ten days longer at Grand
Glaize, they would decide for peace or war; but he
would not wait, and continued his movement until the
eighteenth of August, when he reached a place forty-one
miles from Grand Glaize, where, ascertaining that he was
almost in the presence of the enemy, he began to throw
up a light work called Fort Deposit, to cover the trains
and heavy baggage of the army. On the morning of
the twentieth, moving cautiously down the north bank of
the Maumee about five miles, the advance guard was
ambuscaded by the Indians, and received so severe a
fire that it was driven back upon the main body. The
enemy was very favorably posted in high grass and
among trees felled bv a tornado — which gave the action
the name of "the Battle of the Fallen Timbers." Among
these it was impossible for the cavalry to operate with
effect on a considerable part of the line of battle. They
were promptly moved against the enemy's flanks, how-
ever, while the front line of infantry charged the savages,
which it did with such impetuosity as to oust them
speedily from their coverts, and in less than an hour to
drive them more than two miles and disperse them so
thoroughly that the battle was not renewed.
The brunt of this gallant affair was borne by less than
nine hundred of Wayne's men, opposed to more than
twice their number, representing the Miami, Delaware,
Ottawa, Shawnee, and Wyandot tribes, and led by sev-
eral of their bravest chiefs. A number of Canadian
militia and British regulars, with their officers, were also
on the field as auxiliaries to the savages; and some of
them were killed in the fight. In the spring of this year
a fortification had been constructed by the British in the
neighborhood of the battle ground, upon the territory of
the United States. To the vicinity of this (Fort Miami)
Wayne now moved, and while engaged in a spirited cor-
respondence with its commander, in regard to the intru-
sion of the British upon Federal territory, occupied his
army with the devastation of the Indian villages and
cornfields above and below the British post. Included
in the destruction were the buildings and other property
of Colonel McKee, the British Indian agent and "prin-
cipal stimulator," as Wayne calls him, of the war on the
side of the savages, having been personally present on
the field of the Fallen Timbers.
Having laid waste the country for miles about the fort,
Wayne returned to Fort Defiance, and on the fourteenth
of September moved toward the junction of the St. Jo-
seph's and the St. Mary's, where the Government had for
years desired to plant a military work, and where he
built one whose name is perpetuated by the city of Fort
Wayne, at the same place. About the middle of Octo-
ber the Kentucky contingent, which had become muti-
nous and troublesome, was marched back to Fort Wash-
ington and mustered out of service. On the twenty-
eighth the remainder, except a sufficient garrison for the
new fortification, moved to Fort Greenville, where it win-
tered. The several tribes, notwithstanding constant
British instigation to the contrary, one after another de-
cided to sue for peace. Messages to that effect were
received in December and January by the commanders
at Forts Wayne and Greenville; prisoners were ex-
changed; and in the summer of 1795 a great gathering
of the leading men of the tribes at the latter place re-
sulted in the treaty of Greenville, bearing final date
August 3d, of that year. It was ratified by the Senate
of the United States in December; and so, through
Wayne's carefulness and foresight in preparation, his
masterly strategy in the construction and occupancy of
a chain of military posts into the hostile country, and
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
the bravery of his "Legion," the terrible Indian wars
of the eighteenth century in this country were closed.
A peace lasting until the temporary outbreak sixteen
years afterwards, under Tecumseh and the "Prophet,"
was secured by the great convention of Greenville.
A MINOR EXPEDITION.
In the spring of 1794, while General Wayne was for a
time in or near Fort Washington, he was directed by
President Washington to despatch a force to Fort Massac,
on the Mississippi, to intercept an irregular, filibustering
army, understood to be in preparation in Kentucky, and
expected to invade Louisiana for the conquest of that
province, then under Spanish domination. Wayne de-
tached Major Doyle, with a company of infantry and
artillery, to perform the service, which, with other ener-
getic measures undertaken by Washington, effectually
broke up the schemes and intrigues mainly instigated, in
Kentucky and elsewhere, by the agents of M. Genet,
then the French Minister to this country. The "French
party" had enlisted the sympathies of the governor and
other prominent men in Kentucky, and arranged for
the rendezvous of two thousand men at the Falls of the
Ohio (Louisville) to constitute an army of invasion ; so
that the movement thus checked, in part from Fort
Washington, was really somewhat formidable.
A VERY SHORT CAMPAIGN
seemed to be made necessary in southwestern Ohio at
one time during the latter part of the first decade of this
century, by the suspected hostile conspiracies of Tecum-
seh ■ and his brother, the Prophet, who resided at Green-
ville from 1805 to 1809. They were visited there by
many Indians of influence and martial prowess; who
were roused almost to frenzy by the intrigues of the
Prophet and the eloquent appeals of Tecumseh. So
strong became the signs of hostility at last that war was
confidently expected. The militia of this region were
called out and rendezvoused at Dayton, supplies gathered,
wagon- and pack-trains organized, and other preparations
made. The scare was shortly 'over, however ; and the
troops, after about a fortnight's service, were disbanded.
One regiment was out from Hamilton county, command-
ed by Colonel John S. Wallace, of which Dr. John Black-
burn, of Cincinnati, was surgeon.
THE TIPPECANOE CAMPAIGN.
It is probable that many other men of Hamilton
county, besides the gallant commander, General William
Henry Harrison, were out with him in the campaign of
181 1, against the Indians of the Indian country; but
their names are not now ascertainable. The sole note of
.the history of the campaign, connecting Cincinnati and
the county with it, which we find, is in Mr. E. D. Mans-
field's Personal Memories. He was then a little boy,
residing with his father at Ludlow's Station, on the Ham-
ilton road, upon which he remembered seeing the Fourth
regiment of infantry march from Cincinnati on a pleasant
morning in May, on their way to the ultimate victory of
the campaign at Tippecanoe the following November,
where they found the main body and chief hope of the
American army. The renown won by General Harrison
in the campaign also reflects from it honor upon Hamil-
ton county, although he was then residing at Vincennes
as governor of Indiana territory.
THE WAR OF 1812-15.
Early in the spring of i8i 2, before this struggle had
been fully enlisted; the President made a requisition upon
the State of Ohio for one thousand two hundred mihtia.
More than enough to fill the quota were soon raised,
many of them from Hamilton county. They were ordered
by Governor Meigs to rendezvous at Dayton, on the
twenty-ninth day of April. By the fourth of May one
thousand four hundred troops, mostly volunteers, were
encamped at Camp Meigs, three miles above that place,
and one hundred more were added within a week. Gen-
erals Cass and Gano, the latter a Cincinnatian, were in
command, under the governor, who was commander-in-
chief The force was divided into three regiments, led,
respectively, by Lewis Cass, Duncan McArthur, and
another Cincinnati soldier, James S. Findlay, who, al-
though a general in the militia, consented to take a col-
onel's place. May 25th, the equipment of the troops
being measurably complete. Governor Meigs formally
surrendered the command of the Ohio contingent to
General Hull, of the United States army, who was to lead
it away to the disgraceful surrender at Detroit.
Upon the outbreak of the contest, Governor Meigs
had called out the First division of Ohio militia, which,
rendezvoused in Hamilton county, at Hutchinson's
tavern (later Jacob Hoffner's, in Curaminsville), on the
road from Cincinnati through Colerain. Mr. Mansfield
says the volunteers presented a motley appearance,
dressed as they were in a great variety of apparel, some
with hunting-shirts, some with butternut jackets, and
others in more fantastic costumes. Many of the men
had rifles or other arms; but most of them drilled with
sticks and cornstalks in place of firelocks. When the
governor's call was made, the response was generous
from this county, as from other parts of the State. Two
companies volunteered at once in Cincinnati. One was
of mounted infantrjf, commanded by Captain John F.
Mansfield, a nephew of Jared Mansfield, the surveyor-
general.
He was in the Hull surrender with his command, but
was presently released. He was extremely mortified by
the terrible disgrace, and also taking a fever while cross-
ing Lake Erie, he died soon after his return to Cincin-
nati— "of fever and a broken heart," says his cousin, Mr.
Mansfield, in his Personal Memories. Captain Mans-
field is thus further eulogized by his distinguished rela-
tive, Hon. E. D. Mansfield, in his Memories of Dr.
Drake :
He was a most extraordinary young man, whose character produced
a more intense and enduring impression upon those who knew him
than did any one of whom I have ever heard. The impression made
upon others — an impression deep and durable — is the highest testimony
to the reality of a great and noble character. The fleeting effect of
brilliant genius, or the doubtful applause given to talent without virtue,
may be possessed by many ; but it is seldom we find that perfection of
character which demands a praise which never wavers and which no
time destroys. Still more seldom do we find in it such kindly affection
as draws within its embrace the hearts of both strangers and friends.
Such was the character of Captain Mansfield ; and 1 judge it only by
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
the concurrent testimony of a large number of persons, from the pass-
ing citizen to tlie near relatives, from the soldier who served with him
to the officer who commanded.
Returning after Hull's suirender, in an open boat on the lake and
river, he was seized with an autumnal fever. Enfeebled by disease, he
was not less broken in spirit; and his sensitive mind seemed to have
sunk under the stain of disgrace and disappointiuent. In this state
Dr. Drake found him, when returned to Cincinnati. No power of
medicine or care of friend availed against his deep-seated malady of
mind and body. He was already delirious, and soon sank to the grave.
He was only in his twenty-fifth year; and one so young, so unassum-
ing, and so full of worth, was never so much lamented by so many
who knew what worth was. The public honors paid to his memory —
not a few — were small compared to the tribute of sorrows poured out
by hearts bound to him by no tie of nature, but endeared by strong af-
fection.
Neither the roll of Captain Mansfield's company (the
Cincinnati Light infantry), nor of Captain J. W. Sloan's
dragoons (the Cincinnati troop), nor of any other com-
pany known to have been from Hamilton county, is in
the office of the adjutant-general of the State ; and we
have been unable to recover any such roll from private
hands. The rules of the adjutant-general's office at
Washington do not permit the copying of military rosters
there, through fear of frauds in the procurement of
bounty lands and otherwise. Another company that
went out from Cincinnati during the war was that of Cap-
tain Carpenter, and Captains McFarland and Hugh
Glenn are said to have had Hamilton county companies
in this service, but we are likewise unable to present a
copy of their rolls of honor. The entire regiment com-
manded by General Findlay was from the Miami coun-
try. The two companies first enlisting marched to join
Hull's army with the Fourth United States infantry,
which had crossed from Newport Barracks to take the
road northward; and a sermon was preached to them be-
fore starting, on the fourth of May, 1812, by the Rev.
Dr. Wilson. Mr. Mansfield thus related the incident, at
a pioneer celebration in 1874:
Just before they set out they were called into the First Presbyterian
church, corner of Main and Fourth streets, to hear an address from
Dr. Joshua L. Wilson. The text was, in substance: "Cursed be he
that goeth not forth to battle, and cursed be he that keepeth back his
hand from blood." The brave, earnest, patriotic Wilson never hesi-
tated to speak his mind, and speak it freely. That noble army was
surrendered without a cause; and none who did not know those men,
can know with what anguish and sorrow and indignation that surren-
der was received.
August 5, I Si 2, orders were sent by Governor Meigs
to General John S. Gano, at Cincinnati, to march imme-
diately with three hundred men of his division to Ur-
bana, in charge of Captain Sutton. They were to be "un-
der the command of a major," and furnished with a
blanket and knapsack, arms and ammunition. "Volun-
teers under the law of Ohio will be preferred," wrote the
governor. No pubhc money was in hand for the pur-
pose of recruiting or equipment; the credit of the Gov-
ernment was low; and many of the military and naval
operations of the war were conducted only under pledges
or pecuniary obligations for which private persons be-
came responsible. This order gave General Gano a
similar opportunity. Fifteen days after the order was
despatched he wrote :
I had to get Major Barr to join me to put our note in bank for three
thousand five hundred dollars, payable in ten days, which is all we
could raise, and the bills on Government will not command the cash
here — there are so many drawn they cannot be accommodated.
I have six as good companies as I have seen in the State ;
four have marched from here yesterday to join two others at Lebanon,
where they will elect their major. . . . The detatchment
is as follows; Captain Jenkinson with his company of artillery, fitted
completely with muskets, etc., etc.: Lebanon Light infantry, inexactly
the same uniform as Mansfield's company; four companies of riflemen
completely equipt, one company one hundred strong. All can instantly
fix bayonets to their rifles; the others every man a tomahawk and knife.
The whole are volunteers, except the light infantry of Lebanon.
On the sixth of September, 1813, when the events of
the war were rapidly thickening. Colonel Henry Zumalt,
of Cincinnati, was ordered by General Gano to march
his regiment of militia, near eight hundred strong, "this
evening, if possible," to Daytoij, thence to Franklinton,
the present western division of Columbus. He was to
be joined on his way by two companies from Hamilton
and two from Lebanon. Extra pay was offered if the
troops should be called into actual service. He was in-
structed to procure musicians, if possible; and an order
was given on Major Morton for fifty stand of arms and
accoutrements.
The story of the war need not be recounted here. It
will be sufficient if some mention of the deeds of Hamil-
ton county's sons is made. This was admirably done by
General Harrison, in an after-dinner speech at the cele-
bration of the forty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of
Cincinnati and the Miami country, held in Cincinnati on
the twenty-sixth of December, 1833, ^Y natives of Ohio.
We extract in full that portion of his address referring to
their exploits:
Your young orator [Joseph Longworth, esq.] has mentioned the per-
formances of our own Buckeye population in the late war, in terms as
elocjuent as they were just. I could not think of trespassing upon the
patience of the company by recounting the merits of all who distin-
guished tiiemselves ; but I cannot resist the gratification of informing
the citizens of Cincinnati that they have amongst their number some
who were as conspicuous for their gallantry as any from Ohio or else-
where.
As those who are truly brave are always backward and retiring, I
think it probable that the anecdotes I shall relate are unknown to the
greater portion of the inhabitants of this city. To do full justice to my
gallant friend whom I perceive at some distance on my right [Major
Gwynne], I must necessarily recount the circumstances which afforded
the opportunity for distinguishing himself to which I have referred.
The siege of Fort Meigs had continued some days, when the enemy,
despairing of making an impression upon our works from their position
in front, took possession of one on our right flank, on which, in the
night, they erected two batteries, with the view of enfilading our lines.
It became necessary to dislodge them, and a sortie for that purpose was
ordered. I had no means of ascertaining the force by which these bat-
teries were defended. But it was impossible to suppose it very small,
and allow their commander the possession of any military knowledge,
as a large river separated them from his main body- It became neces-
sary, therefore, to make the detachment ordered on this duty as strong
as circumstances would permit. It was composed of the com-
panies of the Seventeenth and Nineteenth regiments of the line
then in the fort ; the former raised in Kentucky, the latter in Ohio.
The whole rank and file of .both regiments was about three hundred and
fifty. To these were added the battalion of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
and Petersburgh, Virginia, volunteers of about one hundred, and a
small company of Boone county, Kentucky, militia, for flankers. The
aggregate of the detachment being about five hundred rank and file,
were put under the command of Colonel John Miller, of Ohio, the com-
mandant of the Nineteenth regiment. These troops were drawn up in
a deep ravine which flanked the fort, to prevent, if possible, the enemy
from knowing the object they were intended to accomplish. Before the
advance was ordered the troops were addressed, and the necessity of
their succeeding and the motives for every one to perform his duty
pointed out. They were ordered to advance witli trailed arms, to pre-
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
83
vent their fire from being expended before they reached the enemy, and
the most positive directions given to put to death any man who should
fire before orders were given to do so.
The advance was made in hne, the regular troops on the left, their
centre directly opposite the batteries of the enemy, on their right the
Pittsburgh and Petersburgh volunteers, and the Kentucky company of
militia still farther on that flank. From the shape of the ravine from
which the advance was made, the regular troops had reached the sum-
mit before the volunteers, and the latter were in some measure masked
by the hill, when the whole of the enemy's fire was poured upon the
regulars. The meditated attack was discovered by the enemy, who
looked into the ravine by climbing trees, and were of course prepared
to receive it. The effect of the fire was dreadful, as may well be sup-
posed, from a thousand Northwestern Indians and upwards of two
hundred British troops in position, delivered from the corner of a wood
upon troops in line marching through an open plain. I have always
been of opinion that the loss was greater for the numbers engaged, and
for the period that the firing lasted, than has ever occurred before or
since in America. A moment's halt was necessary to close the ranks
and to disencumber them of the killed and wounded. This was done
with the precision and coolness of a parade exercise. In another
moment the "march! march!" was given by the gallant commander,
and the whole line, regulars and volunteers, rushed upon the enemy.
They did not remain to receive the shock, although still possessing the
advantage of position, and then outnumbering the assailants by three
to one. With the exception of the extreme left flank of Indians,
their whole line, British and Indians, and Tecumseh, the commander
of the latter, 'fled; the British to their boats and the Indians to the
swamps. The company to which your fellow-citizen. Major Gwynne,
then a lieutenant of the Nineteenth infantry, was attached, was on the
right of the line of regulars. The battle being over in front, he dis-
covered that on the right the Kentuckians were still engaged with the
Indians who had composed the enemy's extreme left, and that they had
cut them off from our line. Seeing that the danger was pressing, with-
out waiting for orders he changed the front of his company, charged
the Indians on the rear, relieved the brave Kentuckians, and, with their
assistance, completely routed them. That Major Gwynne by this bold
and prompt movement saved many valuable lives, there can be no
doubt. The highest reward bestowed upon a Roman soldier was given
to him who saved the life of a Roman in battle.
But I perceive that there is another Buckeye at the table who merited
well of his country under my command in the late war. I am per-
suaded that a relation of the circumstances will not be unacceptable to
the company. When the enemy were first discovered advancing on
Fort Meigs, and their Indians had already encircled the fort, it became
necessary to send orders to Brigadier-General Green Clay, who was, as
I knew, advancmg with a brigade of Kentucky militia to join me. As
it would have been improper to send a written order, when there were
so many chances of its falling into the hands of the enemy, a person
was wanted who, to the quahties of sagacity, bravery, fortitude, and
perseverance, united unquestionable patriotism. For a service of that
character it is not usual to command its performance by an officer.
Your fellow-citizen. Major Oliver, at that time an officer of the commis-
sariat, proffered his services. They were accepted, and he performed
the duty to my entire satisfaction. The hazard of the undertaking was
very great, and it was of that kind that even the bravest men would dis-
like to encounter. The fame which is acquired by such a death, is one
of the strongest motives to distinguished actions in the field. If Major
Oliver had perished on this occasion, and the chances were greatly
against him, he certainly would have been "wept" by his numerous
friends, but to requote what has been already given, he would have been
"unhonored and unsung." What have been the rewards of Major
Gwynne and Major Oliver from their country for the services they
rendered, I cannot say. Indeed, it appears that the Buckeyes have
been rather unfortunate in that respect, although always in the hour of
danger and on the day of battle, they appear to have been frequently
'overlooked in the division of the spoil.
A glance at the president of the day [Major Daniel Gano] reminds
me of the important services rendered by his father; and as he is the
proper representative of that father, it is within the rules that I should
mention them. When I first saw the late Major-General John S.
Gano, it was in the hard winter of 1791-2, at the head of some forty or
fifty volunteers, united with a body of regular troops, on an excursion
to the scene of the disastrous battle-ground of the preceding fourth of
November. An uncommon fall of snow made it necessary for General
(then Colonel) Wilkinson, who commanded the detachment, to leave
the infantry and proceed with the mounted volunteers. The great
depth of snow prevented the accomplishment of the pious purpose of
burying the dead, for which the enterprise was undertaken. In a few
weeks from this time. Captain Gano again joined us on the hazardous
expedition to erect the fort which was named St. Clair. With similar
small bodies he was ever on the alert— ever ready to afford any assist-
ance in his power toward the protection of the frontiers, until the gen-
eral peace with the Indians in r795. In the last war he served under
my command as major-general at the head of the Ohio quota of mihtia,
and during my absence on th northern frontier he commanded the
Ninth Military district, as general-in-chief I can state with confi-
dence that in all of these situations, whether at the head of forty men 01
of some thousands, he discharged his duty with the strictest fidelity,
usefulness, and honor.
It is unnecessary for me to speak of the military services of my long
tried and valued friend immediately on my right [General Findlay]. It
is well known that at the head of a gallant regiment of volunteers, dis-
ciplined by himself, he sen-ed on the first northwestern campaign of the
late war. It is equally wefl known that, if his advice and that of his
gallant compeers (the other colonels of the army) had been adopted,
the campaign would have had a different result, and the honor of our
arms would not have been tarnished by an inglorious surrender.
THE MEXICAN WAR.
"Upon the requisition of the President under an act of
Congress approved May 13, 1S46, Ohio was called upon
to furnish three regiments of infantry to the army being
prepared for the invasion of Mexico. They were promptly
raised and forwarded, notwithstanding many citizens of
the State were opposed to the war, and one of them had
said, upon the floor of Congress, that, were he a Mexi-
can, he would welcome the Americans "with bloody
hands to hospitable graves." Colonel Curtis, George W.
Morgan, and A. M. Mitchell commanded the first regi-
ments despatched. The next year a fourth regiment was
called out, and sent to the field in command of Colonel
Charles H. Brough, who died some years after in Cin-
cinnati.
Of the entire Ohio contingent, however, the roll of
but one company is on file in the adjutant-general's office
at Columbus. It is that of Captain Otto Zirckel's com-
mand, in the Fourth regiment of Ohio volunteers, com-
manded by Colonel Brough. The regiment was mustered
into service at Cincinnati, May 2.7, 1847, by Colonel
Ewing, United States army, and mustered out at the
same place July 18, 1848. The following names are re-
corded upon the roll of Captain Zirckel's company as ,
those of Hamilton county men :
Musician Henry Snyder.
PKIVATE.S.
Christopher Kastner, Charles Hantzsche, Benedict Diesterweig, John
Gobler, George Schatzman.
The rendezvous at Cincinnati was at Camp "Washing-
ton," established for the purpose of this war in a conve-
nient locality near Mill creek, upon ground now covered,
in part, by the city workhouse and the house of refuge.
The headquarters of the camp are still shown, in a long,
low building, now used for residence and saloon keeping,
not far south of the workhouse. The district yet bears
the old name, though not in a corporate capacity, it now
and for many years past being a part of the city.
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
It would require a huge volume to write, in full detail,
the honarable record made by this county during the
great civil war. Special chapters will be given in this
work to "Cincinnati in the War," "The Siege of Cincin-
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
nati,"and "The Morgan Raid Through Ohio;" and due
notices of patriotism and patriotic efforts will be made in
the histories of the townships. These will allow us to be
very brief in this introduction to what is, after all, the
best exhibit of good deeds during the fearful struggle — a
roster of the immense contingent furnished by Hamilton
county to the Federal armies.
The number of camps of rendezvous and equipment
established in the county would, of itself, furnish evidence
of the activity of her people in the maintenance of the
war. The following minor encampments may be enu-
merated:
Camp Harrison, north of Cincinnati; established by
order of Governor Dennison, and named from ex-Presi-
dent Harrison.
Camp Clay, at Pendleton, in the then eastern suburbs
of Cincinnati.
Camp John McLean, near Cincinnati; named from
Justice McLean, of the United States Supreme court.
The Twenty-fifth Ohio infantry, commanded by Colonel
N. E. McLean, a son of the judge, was quartered here.
.Camp Gurley; named from the Hon. John A. Gurley,
one of the members of Congress from Cincinnati.
Camp Dick Corwine, also near the city; named from
Major Richard M. Corwine.
Camp Colerain, near the place of that name, ten miles
north of Cincinnati.
Mention is also made of a Camp Wheeler, near Union
Ridge, in this county, where "Tod's Independent Scouts"
made their headquarters in July, 1863.
In September, 1861, the Thirty-first Ohio infantry ren-
dezvoused at the orphan asylum in Cincinnati; and many
other public buildings in and about the city were tempo-
rarily used for quarters at various times during the war.
The great camp, however, one of the most famous
cantonments in the county at the time, was Camp Denni-
son, near Madisonville, in the eastern part of the county,
on the Little Miami railroad, seventeen miles from the
then limits of Cincinnati. It was named from Hon. Wil-
liam Dennison, governor of the State at the outbreak of
the war, at whose request a site for such camp was se-
lected in the latter part of April, 1861, by General Rose-
crans, then a retired army officer in business in Cincinnati.
One of the prime objects in establishing a large encamp-
ment in this region was to give a feeling of security to
the people of the city, in view of the doubtful position of
Kentucky at this early stage of the war. Captain George
B. McClellan, president of the Ohio & Mississippi rail-
road, also a young officer of the regular army, who had
resigned to engage in civil pursuits, had been appointed
by Governor Dennison major-general of the Ohio mili-
tia; and by his invitation Rosecrans accepted the post of
topographical engineer upon his staff, and proceeded to
select the camp. The site chosen was a stretch of level
land, not very broad or long, but sufficient for most pur-
poses of the camp. The ground was necessarily leased
at the high rates put ujjon it by the owners ; and the gov-
ernor was much blamed for what was deemed an extrav-
agant outlay. It was named from him by General Mc-
Clellan, who was put in command of the camp, but soon
left it to assume his new duties as a major-general in the
regular army. At first it was in charge of the State, and
gave the governnor and other Ohio officers infinite
trouble through complaints of bad treatment, insufficient
food, clothing, tents, arms, etc., and other ills. It was
early turned over to the General Government, however;
and was one of the two great camps (the other being
Camp Chase) maintained by the United States in Ohio
during and for some time after the Rebellion. Scores of
regiments were recruited or rendezvoused, equipped, and
drilled here. Countless thousands of "boys in blue''
passed its gates going into or out of the service, or re-
turning from rebel prison pens to refit for the field. Little
of it now remains, save a glorious memory, the cemetery
where rest its hero dead, and the old sign at the entrance.
The very name of the post office maintained there, sad
to say, has been changed. The old camp, however, with
all its bustle, in the pomp and circumstance of war, will
long live in the recollections of the myriad citizen-soldiers
who from time to time inhabited it.
The military committee of Hamilton county should not
pass without a notice. Its intelligent activity and patriotic
zeal, in aiding the recruitment of troops and otherwise for-
warding the Federal cause, were eminently serviceable to
our armies, and were gratefully acknowledged by the au-
thorities of the State and the Union. It was originally ap-
pointed by Governor Dennison, and was mantained, with
some changes in its personnel, until the close of the war.
At the end of 1863 it was composed as follows: General
Joshua H. Bates, chairman; W. H. Davis, secretary; Hon.
N. W. Thomas, Colonel A. E. Jones, W. W. Lodwick,
John W. Ellis, Francis Weisnewski, Thomas Sherlock, Eli
Mushmore, Amzi Magill. Its headquarters were of course
in Cincinnati.
It may here also be observed that, besides the long list
of general officers in the service, who reflected honor upon
Cincinnati, and who will be enumerated hereafter, the
county elsewhere furnished to the Northren armies dis-
tinguished soldiers in the persons of Brigadier-General
Jacob Am men, of Lockland, and brevet Brigadiers Thom-
as Kirby Smith, of Colerain, E. Barrett Langdon, of Lin-
wood, and Benjamin C. Ludlow, of Cumminsville, a
native of the old Ludlow's Station, at the same place; be-
sides many of lesser rank.
We now come to
THE IMMENSE ROSTER
of the Hamilton county contingent in the late war. If
has been compiled from the rolls in the bureau of the
Adjutant-General of the State, where every courtesy and
convenience have been kindly afforded for the work.
Happily, few RebeUion rolls are missing from this great
collection, except in some cases of three-months regi-
ments or companies; and fortunately, too, for twenty-nine
regiments of infantry, eight regiments of cavalry, and
seven batteries, at the time this compilation was made,
the records had been reduced to such system and shape
that it was possible to present a full roster of each of
these commands. For the others, the muster-in rolls
must in general suffice, as is usual in histories of this
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
85
kind. The writer has been embarrassed, not only by the
magnitude of the Ust, but by the difficulty, in many
cases, of identifying officers or men as belonging to
Hamilton county. No means exist in the adjutant-
general's office, apart from the rolls, for such identifica-
tion; and these are not always reliable. Entire com-
panies, raised in other parts of the State, were re-enrolled
at Cincinnati or Camp Dennison, and appear accordingly
upon the rolls, and large numbers of men from other
parts of the State and country went to these places for
their original enlistment; while many Hamilton county
citizens were enrolled at points outside of the county or
"in the field," particularly for veteran services, and can-
not now be recognized, except by those who personally
know the facts, as Hamilton county volunteers. Not-
withstanding the faithful use of Mr. Raid's invaluable
book, Ohio in the War, and other available sources of in-
formation as to the locale of companies, regiments, and
individual enlistments, it is probable that some hundreds,
at least, are herein accredited to this county that belong
to other counties, and that quite as many whose names
should appear upon this roster, have been omitted, be-
cause the rolls do not furnish the data by which they can
be recognized as of the Hamilton "Grand Army." But
every effort has been made to secure as full and nearly
accurate a roster as possible under the circumstances.
In general, it has been thought safest to include in this
roll of honor all who were recruited in Cincinnati or the
townships of Hamilton county, so far as shown by the
records; and to omit those enrolled at Camp Dennison,
unless some other evidence has been found that they be-
long to the county. Many names, it will be observed,
are duplicated, and some, perhaps, triplicated, by re-en-
listments, transfers, or promotions. In all cases, if the
period of service is not specified in the history or roll of
the regiment, it will be understood that the muster-in was
"for three years, or during the war." The orthography
of the rolls has'been followed; but discrepancies of spell-
ing to be found in them make it reasonably certain that
many whose names appear herein will experience that
peculiar sort of fame of which Byron speaks — having
their names spelt wrongly in print.
HAMILTON MEN IN KENTUCKY REGIMENTS.
A number of companies recruited in this county, which
could not be received for the three-months' service, ren-
dezvoused spontaneously at the Methodist camp-meeting
ground, on the Colerain pike, eleven miles from the city
(Camp Colerain). Among these were the Valley guards,,
recruited in and about Clifton, Cumminsville, and Carth-
age, of which the following named were officers :
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Flamen Ball, jr.
First Lieutenant W. H. Hiclcock.
Second Lieutenant Fredericlc Cook.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
^ First Sergeant John Joyce,
Sergeant Henry Hayward.
Sergeant William Scanlan.
Sergeant S. J. Lawrence.
Corporal John Shaw.
Corporal C. Drier.
Corporal Henry Jessan.
Colonel P. J. Sullivan was recruiting a regiment in Cin-
cinnati, and finding it could not be received at Camp
Harrison, marched a number of his companies, about
eight hundred men in all, to the camp-meeting ground.
They included the Rough and Ready guards, Captain
Spellmyer; the Miami guards. Captain Boyer; the
Zouave cadets, Captain Joseph A. Stacy; the Beck
guards. Captain Beck; the Fulton Continentals, Captain
David Johns; and the Union artillery. Captain Joseph
Whittlesey. The several companies subsequently went
to Camp Clay, where they were joined by a company
from Louisville, for which no provision was made in
Kentucky, the governor of that State having declined
to furnish the men asked from that State. Patriotic
Ohio, however, supplied the deficiency in great part; and
President Lincoln, upon the solicitations of Judge Chase
and other Ohioans, consented to receive as the First and
Second Kentucky regiments the organizations effected at
Camp Clay. They were equipped and prepared for the
field at the expense of this State, but >vere in time lecog- .
nized by the authorities of Kentucky, who issued com-
missions to their officers. They were as follows :
FIRST KENTUCKY INFANTRY.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel James N. Guthrie.
Lieutenant Colonel D. H. Enyart.
Major Bartholomew Loper.
Quartermaster Captain Gilbert Clemmens.
SECOND KENTUCKY INFANTRY.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel William E. Woodruff.
Lieutenant Colonel George W. Neff.
Major Thomas G. Sedgwick.
Quartermaster Captain Joseph Blundell.
By far the larger part of these, like the men of the regi-
ments, were Hamilton county citizens — Cincinnatians.
The commands saw their first service in the brigade of
General Jacob D. Cox, in the army of West Virginia.
They served a longer term than the period of original
enlistment, and made very creditable records in the field.
THE HISTORIES AND ROSTERS.
For the material of the following introductionary his-
tories, recourse has been had almost exclusively to that
unrivalled repository of information concerning Ohio in
the war — Mr. Whitelaw Reid's great work bearing that
name.
FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
(Three months' service.)
COMPANY B.
PRIVATES.
John Bischansen, Nicholas Kirchhimer, Charles Kneip, John Link,
Robert Visel, Martin Ritter, Henry Speier, Nicholas Schmid, William
Schubert, Albert Voelkle.
(Three years' service.)
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Sergeant Major Charles H, Winner.
COMPANY C.
PRIVATE.
Charles A. Stine.
COMPANY D.
iNON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Corporal Alfred Smift.
Teamster Daniel Groves.
86
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
PRIVATES.
Matthew Asken, Jacob Effinger, .Abraham Busch, Samuel S. Dean,
Richard Gregory, Hugh Gray, William A. Huddard, George Jamison,
Chester C. Logan, Cornelius Lowe, Franlilin Moon, John Phillips,
William A. Withrop, Benjamin Young, Lewis Young.
SECOND OHIO INFANTRY.
This was enlisted at first for three months, under the
call of President Lincoln for seventy-five thousand men.
It was mustered into service at Columbus, April 17,
1 86 1, only three days after Fort Sumter was evacuated.
It was at the first battle of Bull Run, and bore honorable
part in the service around Washington until July, when it
was mustered out at the expiration of its term, and re-
organized at Camp Denison as a three-years' regiment in
August and September. A majority of the field, line,
and staff officers had already seen service with the three-
months' men. The regiment moved into eastern Ken-
tucky in September, 1861, and by its good behavior did
much to ingratiate itself and the Union cause in that
region. Its subsequent service was with General Buell's
army, Generals Rosecrans, Thomas and Sherman. It
was in the battle of Stone River and Chickamauga, in
those of the Atlanta campaign, and in several minor
actions. The nucleus of the regiment, like that of the
Sixth and others raised iri Cincinnati, was formed in one of
the peace organizations of the city. It was commanded
during part of its career by Colonel Leonard A. Harris,
ex-mayor of Cincinnati, and a native of that city. Most
of the field, staff and band, two companies, and some
recruits scattered through other companies, were from
Hamilton county.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel Anson G. McCoolc.
Colonel Leonard A. Harris.
Lieutenant Colonel John Kell.
Lieutenant Colonel Obediah C. Maxwell.
Major William T. Beatty.
Surgeon Daniel E. Wade.
Surgeon Benjamin F. Miller.
Assistant Surgeon Thomas J. Shannon.
Assistant Surgeon William A. Carmichael.
Quartermaster Ira H. Bird.
Adjutant George Vandegriff.
Adjutant John W. Thomas.
Chaplain Ma.vwell P. Gaddis.
NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF.
Sergeant-Major Horace R. Abbott.
Quartermaster Sergeant Albert F. Fisher.
Commissary Sergeant Jacob Hogue.
Principal Musician Charles Seibold.
Prisoner of War.^oseph C. Ault, Hospital Steward.
Died. — Marion A. Ross, Jacob Thompson, Sergeant-Majors ; Samuel
Price, of the band.
Transferred. — George Cochran, Quartermaster Sergeant ; William
Dodge, Principal Musician.
Discharged. — George H. Hollister, Julius F. Williams, Aaron W.
McCune, Sergeant Majors ; Enoch P. Hoover, Hospital Steward ;
George Thayer, Ordnance Sergeant.
REGIMENTAL BAND.
Burton C. McCoy, Leader; First class musicians, John W. Bates,
Charles Bates, John Clinton, Cyprian H. Winget ; Second class,
Hiram Cooli, Franlilin Steven, David Shatter, Ransford R. Whitehead,
Thomas Witmore ; Third class, John Busby, George Brant, John H.
Brown, Jason M. Case, George W. Owens, Rosoloo Smith, Benjamin
F. Tufts.
COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain William A. Smith.
Captain James Warnock.
First Lieutenant George W. Landrum.
Second Lieutenan, John F. Davis.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Anthony W. Henry.
Sergeant Henry E. Ross.
Sergeant Ezekiel A. Howard.
Sergeant James Purden.
Sergeant Geoige W. Briggs.
Corporal John H. Quigley.
Corporal Isaac W. Craig.
Corporal Albert Jenkins.
Corporal John C. Wones.
Corporal George Rust.
Wagoner James Cowan.
PRIVATES.
William Allen, George Ansfaugh, Joseph Binkley, Joseph N. Cutler,
Thomas Clark, Francis M. Cox, John H. Dressing, Henry Gilson,
Michael Gallivan, John B. Hunston, Theodore Hughes, John Huddle-
ston, Alfred Jones, Alexander Johnson, Michael Lynch, John Ludrick,
Lewis Mangum, George Mollitor, William Menke, George W. Mitch-
ell, Joseph McAfee, Thomas O'Connor, Marcus O'Connor, Philip
Reilly, David W. Slusser, William Simpson, Michael Tovey, Amos
Westfall, William A. Williams, James Welsh, Richard Benson,
Walter B. Bell, John Clifford, Samuel Graham, John Kennedy,
David S. Long, Michael Mclneray, John McCune, Bernard
O'Meally, William Porter, Charles A. Proctor, Hugh Redmon, Julius
Shelley.
Prisoners of War. — Albert E. Thatcher, James Peese, John Darragh,
Walter S. McHugh, James McNally, William Patton, Peter Reenan,
Jonathan Simpson.
Killed in Battle. — Corporal William H. Jones. Privates Michael
Bausch, Henry Demeling, James Doyle, Harry Harle, James Henry,
John Meade, Thomas Traccy.
Missing. — Corporal William Cunningham.
Died. — Sergeant Thomas J. Moore, Corporal John C. Elliott, Pri-
vates Daniel Bannon, Charles H. Beal, Frederick Ropp, Thomas
Stack, John E. Weaver.
Discharged. — First Sergeants George N. Gates and John F. Davis,
Privates Michael Costegan, Murty Gallevan, Augustus Wood, William
Harvey, Marion Julian, James Matthews, William McCarter, Archibald
McAfee, Michael Newman, William Pitman, George W. Ross, Henry
Straddhng, William J. Weist, Hannibal Wilson.
Transferred. — Sergeant Julius F. Williams, Musician William Dodge,
Privates Marcus L. Brown, Lawrence Coen, Jacob A. Hogue, George
Moore, Abraham Smith.
COMPANY F.
PRIVATES. ,
Frank Nolte harles McGurn, William M. Tatman (both discharged).
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain John Henell.
Captain Jacob Totrell.
First Lieutenant Jerome A. Fisher.
Second Lieutenant Henry Purlier.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant Alfred Lafore.
Sergeant Augustus Crawford.
Corporal James McLaughlin.
Corporal Charles E. Brown.
Corporal Isaac Wilson,
Corporal James C. Norton.
Corporal John Keifer.
PRIVATES.
Charles H. Abbott, Jonas Boggs, James Duncan, Michael Doherty,
George Epke, William Gold, John R. Hallam, Jeremiah Hogan, Rob-
ert L, Lind, Theodore Spinner, John Striker, John Whistler, Thomas
Wiggins, Ernest Beerbaum, John Battles, George Cook, William T.
Gray, Halford H. Heick, John Norvasky, James Rice. ^
Prisoners of War. — Sergeants George M. Hall and Benjamin John-
son: Corporal Philip Lipps; Privates Robert Baggott, Charles W.
Chard, John Dumas, William Egan, John Hillstrip, Bernard Hester,
Henry Lanfersiek, John Miner.
Killed in Battle. — Corporal Samuel Hall; Privates George Capp and
Patrick O'Donnell.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OIHO.
S7
Died. — Privates George W. Hacliwalder and James L. Shell.
Discharged. — Sergeant Henry Purlier; Privates William Camer,
Lawrence Fagan, John Gold, Ezra Mock, Patrick McCarty, Joseph
Nealy, Thomas H. Orr, Frederick Quamby, George Thayei, William
H. Walker.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Aaron W. McCune; Sergeant James A.
Suter; Privates Timothy Brannon, James Crouch, Joshua Dunkley,
Charles F. English, James Kirby, John Mageer, Richard N. Ross, Jo-
seph Wellington, Jesse C. Young.
On muster-in but not on muster-out roll. — Musician Kendall Edson.
COMPANY I.
Private John Kramer, transferred
THIRD OHIO INFANTRY.
This regiment was raised for the three months' service,
and was re-enlisted for three years. It was first mustered
into service April 27, r86r. Its earliest duty was in the
preparation of Camp Dennison, a few miles from Cincin-
nati, and it did not take the field until after its re-organ-
ization in June. Its most notable service was as mounted
infantry in Colonel Streight's expedition into northern
Georgia, in early April, 1863, when almost the entire
command was captured. One company of the three
years' regiment was from Cincinnati, and the other com-
panies from the city were in the three months' service.
(For three months).
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel Lewis Wilson.
Fife Major Jerome F. Dandelet.
COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain George M. Finch.
First Lieutenant Edwin D. Saunders.
Second Lieutenant Frederick S. Wallace.
Lieutenant Stephen M. Athearn.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Charles Swift.
Sergeant Roswell G. Feltus.
Sergeant William Buchman.
Sergeant William Suckles.
Corporal William Young.
Corporal James M. Walker.
Corporal Joseph L. Flenner.
Corporal Milton H. Lydick.
Musician E. Vanpelt.
Musician George T. Suter.
PRIVATES.
W. H. H. Taylor, jr., Charles L. Feltus, Henry Hofkanip, William
Kiefer, Edwin C. Saunders, J. Martin, M. B. Chamberlain, C. D.
Griggs, A. B, Benton, Charles Hulvershorn, James Vanpelt, J.J. Beahr,
Frank A. Armstrong, E. S. Cooke, George W. Johnson, J. Frank Mil-
ler, William W. Miller, William C. Mudge, Thomas L. Wentworth
George L. Pendery, John Davis, George F. Walters, J. B. Holman,
John C. Martin, Enoch C. Jacobs, D. S. Pearce, J. L. Hann, Charles
B. Schondt, A. J. Noble, William Scott, Charles M. Stout, R. C. Steen,
O. Taxis, Edmond H. Davis, A. King, John L. McElhaney, Joseph
A. Clark, W. H. Speed, S. A. Harrison, William Weye, D. W. Sny-
der, Joseph Foss, Robert Cameron, F. McGrew, Thomas Colgan, A.
Alexander, Charles Guiss, Charles L. Shannon, A. Stevens, Samue.
Warwick, T. P. Cavanaugh, W. H. McDevitt, P. Bohl, Urath B
Jones, N. B. Holman, John Holtzwiger, John M. Hubbell, William A.
Koon, William Torrey, Joseph Ryan, John Nealy, Henry L. Williams.
George C. Kithchen, Andrew Reuss, Henry De Bus, William Sterritt,
William Stewart, J. N. Kuntz, W. K. Perrine, Lewis Roderige, James
R. Smith, Frank Thieman.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain J. E. Baldwin.
First Lieutenant J. E. Riggs.
Second Lieutenant G. H. Aiken.
Lieutenant George Vandergriff.
Lieutenant C. A. Newman.
Lieutenant Eugene C. Wilson.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant W. E. Oakley.
Sergeant C. S. Bums.
Sergeant Charles Mendenhall.
Sergeant W. G. Ross.
Corporal B. T. Wright.
Corporal D. W. Pierson.
Corporal P. R. Mitchell.
Corporal L. V. Horton.
Bugler J. F. Dandelet.
PRIVATES.
E. R. Davidson, J. Calhoun Wright, M. Strohraeier, C. W. Miner,
David S. French, Jacob S. Burnett, A. E. Doisey, C. F. McKenzie,
W. H. Childs, George H. Hull, W. P. Egan, Charles Faulman, Thomas
Jones, O. T. Gunn, E. J. Lukens, George McCammon, J. T. Piggott,
jr., Ira Athearn, E. E. C. Swift, W. W. Wilmot, Charles B, Ellis,
Thomas T. Wheeler, B. H. Parsons, S. H. Bascom, Thomas Coen
J. W. Johnston, George H. Palmer, J. W. Craven, P. Bucher, George
W. Ward, T. Brickham, J. Small, C. H. Phelps, Isaac West, B. H.
Snyder, R. W. McComas, Thomxs Webb, J. H. Simpson, Nathan
Guilford, Alfred Koste, L. H. Hill, E. H. Hussey, M. B. Bailey, A. H.
Russell, William Mitchell, G. Rudolph, H. P. Radcliff, T. Deming,
E. E. Isabel, B. B. Fearing, T. Wilton, R. R. Martin, H. Tilden,
Benjamin Harbison, John Snosey, jr., F. S. Taylor, jr., Henry Schultz,
W. C. Williams, Ogden Mender, John A. Wright, J. A. Arthur, Frank
Sterns.
COMPANY I.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Leonard A. Harris.
First Lieutenant William J. Smith.
Second Lieutenant John Herrel.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
. First Sergeant Axe.xander Campbell.
Sergeant Francis N. Gibson.
Sergeant John Anthony.
Sergeant Charles C. Martin.
Corporal Timothy Crannon.
Corporal Jerome A. Fisher.
Corporal F. Rickey.
Corporal John Davis.
PRIVATES.
Herman Act, Patrick Burk, John Barrett, Victor Burnham, John H.
Burnham, Joshua Bailey, Henry Bleaker, Edward Brady, Marshall
Bruce, Frederick Brodey, Edward Blackburn, Edward Clyde, John
Cosgrove, Frederick Carson, William I. Campbell, George Curtis,
John Davis, James Disberry, Irwin C. Darling, John Dixon, William
Dorley, Simon P. Elliott, Christopher Ellis, John Ernest, John Ford,
Martin Foltz, John Feber, Benjamin Gylle, Jasper Holman, Adam
Hass, Henry Hosmanger, Jere Hogan, Thomas Hartless, James Ho-
ban, Herman Kopper, WiUiam- Johnson, Frederick Johnson, John
Johnson, Norris JaUison, Henry Kokenbrink, Thomas Kenneday,
Timothy Lawton, Martin Leopold, Valentine Lenhart, James Lozier,
Henry McCren, George N. McCabe, John McGovern, George Miller,
John Mitchell, Patrick Morrisey, James Manshot, Henry M. Nichols,
Sames N. Nutt, Alfred G. Norissey, Charles Newman, Paul Newmiller,
James O'Conner, John O'Connell, John Penny, Thomas Powers,
Thomas Payne, Thomas Reynold, Fjancis Rhody, Anthony Schwagart,
William Stager, Henry Sanders, Thomas Simons, William Schafer,
John Sailman, William Swift, John Stewart, David Thayer, Henry
Vanfield, Christopher Whaking, William Walfeck, Charles Young,
Herman Bartlett, Charles Cary, Paul M. Farnsworth, Charles Kent,
Peter N. Smidth.
(For three years.)
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Philip Fithian.
Captain Edward M. DriscoU.
First Lieutenant John Richey.
First Lieutenant WiUiam A. Curry.
Second Lieutenant Charles Trownsell.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Henry D. Bander.
Sergeant Thomas W. Kruse.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Sergeant Gilbert B. McWhick.
Corporal Philip Stegner.
Corporal Jesse Bronson.
Corporal Thomas B. Teetor.
Wagoner William Stoul.
PRIVATES.
Rudolph Baehr, August Brewer, James Curry, William Dooley, Cal-
lahill Dooley, Edward English, Benjamin Holmes, Harry Hamilton,
George W. Howell, Lewis Klingler, William Lawler, Frank Metz,
Albert Musser, Edwin McMillen, John McClamthan, Frank O'Connor,
Robert Potts, Henry Phillips, Albert Stimson, John Stanferman, Charles
Schwab, August Schwager, Andrew Schneller, Fred Vanlieu, Herman
D. Willman, Joseph Weber, Manasses Brown, George Bellville, Caspar
Davis, Calvin Bills, Fred Eichenlaub, Parker Ernst, David Finch, James
Frank, Frank Gallagher, Richard Howe, Harrison Kipp, James King,
William Linch, John D. Moore, William McMillen, Daniel O'Keef,
Charles Phillips, John Pohlman, Jacob Smith, Daniel Spencer, Michael
Str.aber, Frank Stanferman, Thomas Tydings, John Wellman, Conrad
Webber, John T. Welsh. .
Killed in Battle. — Sergeant William V. McCoabrie, Corporal Joseph
Bahlman. Privates Louis Whitmore, Henry Barney, Henry Loche-
mey, John B. Naylor.
Died. — Sergeant Charles Cannon. Private Charles Hart.
Discharged.— First Sergeants William A. Curry, David J. Krule ;
privates John Atkins, Michael Black, John Baird, Benjamin Bonner,
Henry C. Bliner, Benjamin Crawford, William Cartman, William Chase,
John F. Droste, George A. Henry, John Knapp, James Lawrence,
Arthur Lyle, George Richey, James Smith, Cincinnatus Stinson, James
Vaulien, Edward Wessel.
Transferred. — Sergeant Sebastian E. Francis, Musician Richard De-
Butts ; privates August Birnbriger, John Coste, Alexander Driscoll,
Frank Dick, Charles Graham, Joan Hartley, WiUiam N. Keys, John
Lanch, John Lawrence, Emil Miller, William Mills, William H. Mc-
Graw, Edward Massey, James O'Conner, Charles T. Palmer, Nathan
Reed, George F. Say, Yeustace Smith, Martin Smith, Joseph Schweder.
Daniel Shaw, Sylvan'us Stewart, Joseph Shries, Thomas Thackeray, ,
Copple Tippanhauer, James Vermilyea.
On muster-in, but not on muster-out roll. — Privates James Cottle,
Charles French, Richard Linch, James Linton, Joseph D. Murry, Wil-
liam Vandine.
On muster-in roll March 31, 1864, but not on muster-out roll. — Private
Cornelius Driscoll.
FOURTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Mustered into service April 4 and May 5, 1861.
Private George Wilson.
FIFTH OHIO INFANTRY.
This was also originally one of the three-months'
organizations, and was made up of young men from Cin-
cinnati and the vicinity. It went into Camp Harrison,
near that city, April 20, 1861; was mustered into the
Federal service May 3d; was transferred to Camp Den-
nison May 23d; re-enlisted in a body for three years the
next month, and was re-mustered June 20th, and started
for the , field in western Virginia, July loth. Its first
service here was under Brigadier General Charles W.
Hill, under whom a very toilsome march was taken over
the spurs of the Alleghanies, in a vain effort to intercept
the retreating troops of the rebel General Garnet. It
then engaged in guard duty and drill at Parkersburgh
until August 5th, when it moved to Buckhannon, and lay
there until November 3d. Near this point companies A,
B, and C had a sharp fight with a party of rebels, losing
one man and killing several of the enemy. Thence the
regiment marched to New Creek on the Baltimore &
Ohio railroad, and presently to Romney, where it had
hard service, entire companies being sent out daily on
scouts, and supplying very large details for picket duty,
some of whom had their posts six or seven miles from
camp. Colonel Dunning, of the Fifth, here took com-
mand of the forces in and about Romney, in place of
General Kelly, who was disabled by a wound. Hearing
of a rebel force of fifteen hundred at Blue's Gap, sixteen
miles out, he moved a detachment against it during a
driving snow storm on the night of January 6, 1862,
surprised the enemy, killing twenty of them, capturing a
number, with two cannon, and destroying the mill and
other property of the rebel Colonel Blue, at that point.
This was the beginning of the Fifth Ohio's reputation for
bravery and thorough-going dealing with the rebels.
The confederate papers soundly anathematized the regi-
ment led "by a butcher," and advised their commanders
to show its metnbers no quarter. Within fifteen hours
from the time of starting the regiment was back at Rom-
ney, having in that short space of time marched thirty-
four miles and fought a spirited and successful action.
General Lander took command of the forces shortly
after, and the regiment was moved in rapid succession
to a number of places, marching and countermarching
for more than a month, and suffering much from the
inclement season. February 13th, with the Eighth Ohio
and a cavalry force, it made a reconnoisance in force on
Bloomney Furnace, during which the cavalry engaged
the enemy and won a victory. March 18th, under Gen-
eral Shields, it participated in another reconnoisance to
Strasburgh, the enemy being pushed several miles
beyond Mt. Jackson, but without bringing on an action.
On the twenty-second, from Winchester the regiment
was moved out hastily and the next- day reached Kerns-
town and took a position to support a battery, where it
was attacked, with other forces in the battle, about nine
A. M. It held its place until afternoon, when five com-
panies were detached and moved alone against an over-
whelming force, whose fire they sustained alone in an
open field for some time, returning it with interest, until
reinforcements came, when the united commands ad-
vanced and soon routed the enemy. Five color-bearers
of the regiment were successively shot down in this short
but sharp fight, among them Captain George B. Whit-
com, of Cincinnati. The Fifth is believed to have saved
the day, at least on this part of the field. Not long
after the rout here the enemy began his retreat, getting
off without further disaster in the darkness of the night. ,
The Fifth lost forty-seven killed and wounded in the bat-
tle of Winchester. The regimental colors received
forty-eight bullet holes in this .action, and the State flag ten.
A movement was soon after begun beyond , Strasburgh,
through Woodstock, and to the Shenandoah, where a
destroyed bridge and Ashby's cavalry on the other side
checked their advance. A dash was made by the Fifth
and some cavalry into Mt. Jackson, but the enemy fled
before their arrival. The regiment then encamped at
Newmarket, Colonel Dunning commanding the brigade.
In a fortnight it advanced to Harrisonburgh, where. May
7th, a beautiful stand of colors was presented by a depu-
tation from the city council of Cincinnati, as a token of
appreciation at home of the regiment's bravery and
efficiency in the late battle.
May 1 2th another march was begun, which continued
to Falmouth, one hundred and fifty miles distant. May
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
25th it moved to Front Royal, and June 3d reached the
Shenandoah again, having marched in three weeks two
hundred and eighty-five miles through mud and rain
without meeting an enemy and with scarcely half rations.
June 9th, however, at Port Republic, it became hotly
engaged, and behaved with its usual courage and dash.
After some firing by volley, it charged two rebel regi-
ments covered by a fence and drove them into the woods,
where they were again charged and one field gun cap-
tured. Moving to the left, it repelled a charge upon one
of our batteries, but had presently to cover a retreat, in
which it lost one hundred and eighty-five men taken cap-
tive. Its total loss in this affair — killed, wounded, and
prisoners — was two hundred and forty-four. Many inci-
dents of personal valor and cunning occurred to the Fifth
here. Lieutenant Kirkup, of Cincinnati, after being
taken, escaped his guard and went but a little way, when
he met two rebels and claimed them as prisoners. They
gave up, and under their guidance he got out of the
mountains and rejoined his command. The colors were
saved on the retreat by color corporals Brinkman and
Shaw wrapping them about their bodies and swimming
the Shenandoah, whence they made their way to General
Fremont's command four days after. The retreat was
kept up to Luray, where rest was had till June 24th,
when the regiment moved through Thoroughfare Gap to
Bristow's Station, and was thenceforth on daily march for
five weeks, over more than five hundred miles, compelled
thereto by the rapid and obscure movements of Stonewall
Jackson in the valley. When at last halted at Alexan-
dria, the men o'" the Fifth were completely fagged out,
were shelterless, and nearly naked. After rest and re-
equipment on the twenty-fifth of July it went by rail to
Warrenton, remaining there some days, and thence march-
ing to Little Washington. Here General Tyler, com-
manding the brigade, took leave of it, and particularly of
the Fifth, which was specially endeared to him. Gen-
eral Geary, afterwards governor of Pennsylvania, suc-
ceeded him. August 9th, from Culpeper Court-House,
the regiment made a forced march to the battle-field of
Cedar Mountain, in which it took full part. Colonel Pat-
rick commanding. The Union forces were pressed back
by overwhelming numbers, and the Fifth lost eighteen
killed, thirteen officers and eighty-nine men wounded,
and two missing, out of two hundred and seventy-five in
the action. Among the badly wounded was Lieutenant
Colonel Armstrong, who was obliged to retire from field
service.
The Fifth participated in the retrograde movements of
Pope's army and the terrible battles on the plains of Man-
assas. After brief respite it joined the forces pursuing
the rebels, passing through Frederick City and other
points, and reaching the field of Antietam September
i6th. Here it was closely engaged the next day, under
command of Major Collins, once in a hand-to-hand con-
flict, in which many of the men used the butts of their
guns, until the enemy slowly and slubbornly gave way.
At another point the brigade to which it belonged, reduced
to five hundred men, held its ground against a much
larger force, and was so poorly supported that it had to
fall back to avoid being outflanked. In this battle the
Fifth emptied its cartridge boxes three times, firing about
one hundred shots per man, and marking the front of its
positions by rows of dead rebels. It lost fifty-four men
killed and wounded, of one hundred and eighty engaged.
Its next camp was at Dumfries, in December, where the
garrison was attacked on the twenty-seventh by Stuart's
cavalry, the action lasting through an entire afternoon,
when the rebels retreated. Lieutenants Walker and Le-
Force, of company G, were killed, three of the regiment
wounded, and five taken. The Fifth then rested at
Dumfries till April 24, 1863, when it joined the advance
of Hooker across the Rappahannock, and was engaged
throughout at Chancellorsville, performing a distinguished
part in that bloody action. It was also in the great bat-
tle of Gettysburgh, July 3d, and in the fruitless pursuit
that followed. Lieutenant Brinkman, one of the heroes of
Port Republic, was killed at Gettysburgh. In August,
the regiment was sent to New York city to quell the
draft riots, and remained there till September 8th, when
it returned to Alexandria, and after sundry marches was
taken by rail to Murfreesborough, Tennessee, receiving
many tokens of regard as it passed through Ohio, but not
being allowed to visit Cincinnati, where many of the
men had not been for two and a half years. October 3,
1863, they reached the intrenchments at Murfreesborough,
and finding the enemy in the vicinity, whom they assisted
in repelling. Rejoining the Potomac troops, the Elev-
enth and Twelfth corps, which had been transported to
Lookout valley, the Fifth took part in the famous "battle
above the clouds;" afterwards did post duty at Bridge-
port, Alabama, was in the advance on Atlanta and some
of the battles of that campaign, in one of the first of
which Colonel Patrick lost his life. The time of the reg-
iment expired during this movement, and it was moved
to the rear in charge of prisoners. Many of the men,
notwithstanding their hard service, decided to re-enlist,
and had the privilege of a short furlough. They soon
rejoined the conquering host pressing upon Atlanta, and
were in the march to the sea and through the Carolinas
and the great reviews at Washington, from which they
returned to Cincinnati. They were mustered out at
Louisville, July 26, 1865, and finally paid and discharged
at Camp Dennison.
Scarcely any Ohio regiment has a more remarkable
history. It took part in twenty-eight engagements, in-
cluding six pitched battles, with many reconnoissances
and skirmishes, marched on foot one thousand three hun-
dred and seventy-five miles, travelled nine hundred and
ninety-three miles by rail, and sustained a total loss of
five hundred men, killed, wounded, and prisoners.
(Three Months' Service).
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel Samuel H. Dunning
Lieutenant Colonel John H. Patrick.
Major William Gaskill.
Adjutant Harry G. Armstrong.
Quartermaster Caleb C. Whetson.
Surgeon Alfred Ball.
Assistant Surgeon Curtis J. Bellows.
Chaplain Samuel L. Youstice.
Sergeant Major James W. Miller.
90
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Quartermaster Sergeant William P. Jackson.
Commissary Sergeant William F. Sheffield.
Hospital Steward William F. Tibbals.
Principal Musician William JVIcAUister.
Principal Musician Thomas Davis.
Principal Musician Edward White.
Band Leader William J. Jewess.
Band— Henry W. Scherer, Edward Schellhorn, Peter Spryer, Wil-
liam C. Lynn, Andrew Mather, Alexander H. Bierman, James A.
Campbell, Alexander H. Hatcher, Thomas C. Sheppard, James D.
Fuller, James H. Rider, James M. Heyl, Thomas Marlatt, Robert
Davis.
(All Other rolls of this regiment, for the three-months'
service, are missing froin the adjutant general's office).
(Si.x Months' Service).
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel Samuel H. Dunning.
Colonel John H. Patrick.
Lieutenant Colonel Harry G. Armstrong.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Kilpatrick.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Kirkup.
Major William Gaskill.
, Major John Collins.
Major Henry E. Symmes.
Major Krewson Yerkes.
Surgeon Alfred Ball.
Surgeon Alexander E. Jenner.
Assistant Surgeon Charles Greenleaf.
Assistant Surgeon Curtis J. Bellins.
Assistant Surgeon Orestes L. Fields.
Assistant Surgeon William F. Tibbals.
Assistant Surgeon Jairies G. Jenkin.
Chaplain Samuel L. Yousteer.
Adjutant Thomas Hefferman.
Adjutant Charles Smith.
Adjutant William H. Thomas.
Adjutant Henry A. Tortman.
Adjutant Henry C. Koogle.
Quartermaster John M. Paver.
Quartermaster Caleb C. Whitson.
Sergeant Major James Richey.
Quartermaster Sergeant Michael Ward.
Commissary Sergeant Andrew J. Barr.
Hospital Steward Robert S. McClure.
Fife Major Edward White.
Drum Major James Lyons.
Died. — Sergeant Major Robert Graham.
Discharged. — Sergeant Majors Herman Belmer, Stephen Codding-
ton, James Clark, Joseph Miller, Augustus Moovert; Quartermaster
Sergeants Williani Calter, Peter A. Cozine, George P. Humphreys,
- William P. Jackson, Matthias Schwab, William Tomlinson; Commis-
sary Sergeants Edward R. Anthony, Charles Baldwin, Joseph L.
Gaul; Drum Majors George W. Bennett, William McAllister; Fife
Majors Thomas Davis, Henry Kent.
Transferred. — Sergeant Major Thomas Hussey; Quartermaster Ser-
geant William Daum; Commissary Sergeants Alfred G. Swain and
William Sheffield; Hospital Stewards Francis McNaily and Edward
White.
REGIMENTAL BAND.
Leader, William J. Jervis; first-class, Henry W. Scherer, Edward
Schellhorn, Peter Schreger; second-class, W. C. Lynn, A. H. Bier-
man, Andrew Mather, J. A. Campbell; third-class, A. H. Hatcher,
Thomas C. Sheppard, James D. Fuller, James W. Heyl, Robert Davis,
James H. Rider, Thomas Marlatt.
COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Jacob A. Remley.
Captain Frederick W. Moore.
Captain Charles Friedshurn.
Captain Thomas W. Scott.
First Lieutenant George H. Whiteamp.
First Lieutenant Thomas Hussey.
First Lieutenant Austin T. Shirer.
First Lieutenant Caleb C. Whitson.
First Lieutenant Edward R. Anthony.
First Lieutenant William B. Neal.
Second Lieutenant Peter A. Cozine.
Second Lieutenant Robert H. Barret.
Second Lieutenant Joseph W. Miller.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant George Heinzenberg.
Sergeant Christian Krauft.
Sergeant George Beinhart.
Sergeant Jacob Rice.
Sergeant George Spinger.
Corporal Daniel O'Leary.
Corporal Anton Brightman.
Corporal Christian Duer.
Corporal James McFarland.
Corporal Jacob Fuchs.
Corporal Frederick Helwig.
PRIVATES.
Robert Barbour, John Birgler, Henry Boy, Cornelius Collins, Robert
H. Crook, David Casner, David Fitzgerald, Henry Griese, George
Hamm, Adam Heintz, Nicholas Hernet, Noah Harris, Stephen H.
Keegan, Conrad Machback, Patrick Malone, Charles H. Miller,
George W. Moore, William T. Patterson, Archibald Robbins, Kil-
lian Stranbert, Ralph Sutherland, Henry Yeager, Allen H. Leonard.
Frederick Best, Charles Backley, Frederick Bojison, Paul Bein-
hart, Charles B. Baab, Charles Burgman, John Baker, William
Deter, St. Clair French, Thomas Ferguson, Henry Earwig, David E.
Harper, Stephen Instner, Philip Myers, James Marshall, Jeremiah
Pendergrass, Henry Polk, Levi Reischeimer, William Retteger, James
M. Reed, Charles Trible, Morgan Wade, David Watkins, Patrick
Walsh, Henry Winters, Michael Welch, John Young.
Killed in Battle.— Corporals William Craft, Jacob Direling, Martin
Benneger, William Sharp; Color Corporal William Wessling; Privates,
Pleasant A. Brown, Conrad Brown, Jacob Gutzter, Edwin Lockwood,
Christian MetzkeJ, Jesse Riffle, John Snatzer.
Died. — Privates Adam Backman, Winfield S. Cook, Marcus D. Cald-
well, Frank Ebbler, John R. McKinley.'^John Sanning, John Thorn-
kins.
Discharged. — Sergeants Wesley Crouch, Frederick Fuchs, George
Kleister, Hess Vincent, Thomas W. Scott; Corporals John Geyer,
Matthew McFarland, Jacob Ries, William Swinburne; Privates Wil-
liam H. Avery, Byron Andrews, James Burns, Robert G. Bell, John H.
Bowser, Daniel Brady, Andrew W. Barber, Thomas B. Beal, Frederick
Boch, George W. Butler, Leander W. Butz, Charles Bausch, Charles
Burckhart, Edward Baird, Andrew Bowman, Patrick Birmingham,
Henry Brant, James Blakesley, William T. Barrett, Edward Burkhart,
Joseph Burkhart, William Baehr, Nicholas Becker, Frank Betz, Joseph
B. Channel, Mortimer Cole, Peter H. Coffman, David C. Cross, Pat-
rick Carroll, Jacob Christ, Hugh Coleman, Oliver C. Donnelly, Fran-
cis Daum, James Dwyer, Charles Evans' Henry Enye, Francis Engal.
Charles Ewighause, August Evans, George Fletcher, Joseph Fleming,
Harmon Foelkin, Caleb Glazier, Frank Hotchkiss, Patrick H. I'viggins,
George Hochsoilder, James Hastle, William H. Justice, Seth James
Peter Keifert, Jacob Kunst, Frederick Keirchgreber, Frederich Kohr,
Robert H. Kind, John H. Lindenwood, .'\lonzo Leavitt, Martin Marsh,
Francis M. Meek, William Meyer, Henry Menke, William Mullerhause,
Antone Muller, Truman McMaster, Patrick Maloney, George Munjar,
Benjamin Meyers, Willis I. Mills, Joseph Noyes, Christian Asteroth,
Joseph A. Patterson, David Ross, Daniel C. Roderick, Lawrence N.
Shorts, Peter Sell, John SuUivan, Frederick Sleiter, Christopher Sny-
der, Joseph Seifert, Lawrence Seifert, John Stofful, Frank Stortz, Peter
Shyrer, James Thrasher, Ludwig Thobaben, Edward Welch, Richard
Wessel.
Transferred. — Musicians, James D. Fuller, James M. Hoyle, William
T. Jervess.
On muster-in but not on muster-out rolls. — Javer Stewart, Frederick
Geyer, Robert Kind, Henry Megers, Michael Batch, John Booker,
Samuel Bolser, Henry Bateman, Edward Cahill, Ignatius Cannon,
Frederick Daum, John S. Dale, William Doolsy, William Darrel, John
F. Drosty, Daniel W. Dewitt, John Ellick, Lawrence Ferncoast, Jacob
Fuchs, William Fotts, Charles Hoffman, Michael Hite, John W. Jew-
ett, Lewis Klingler. Frank Kebbler, George Lambertson, John Miller,
Peter Marks, William Morris, Thomas Miller, Philip Marshofer, John
Pritchard, William Phillips, George Strubert, George Smith, August
Shyltheise, Albert Stimpson, Charles Schwabe, Austin F. Sherir, Syl-
vanus Stuart, James L. Thomson, Joseph Cordeman.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OIHO.
91
COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Robert L. Kilpatrick.
Captain James L. Tliompson.
First Lieutenant John C. A'IcDonald.
First Lieutenant Hugh Marshall.
First Lieutenant George A, Thorpe.
Second Lieutenant Robert Graham.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant George Haig.
Sergeant Charles Hamilton.
PRIVATES.
Hugh Breen, George Baner, John Cook, David C. Custard, William
Foster, James Hughs, George Haines, Isaac Hillyer, Eldridge Lemoin,
William MothersiU, John D. Miller, Donald Macdongal, James Ma-
hood, John Pigman, Dennis Reardin (No. 2), John Roth, Cooney
Roth, Charles Riter, Joseph Schlick, Jaines Swinson, Frank Stall,
August Seifert, Casper Webert,
Discharged. — Sergeants George Dalzell, Albert Fuhrman, Thomas F.
Soden ; Corporals Edwin Booth, Henry M. Gastiell, Hugh Liddy,
William Muirson, Leo Pistner, J9hn Ridnian, Henry Teal, Frank
Burns, James Bowrie, James Craig, Henry Cunningham, James Davis,
Robert E. Davis, Henry Dopke, William IJ. Dunlap, Daniel Dooley,
Alloy Emeru, John C. Edwards, David Ford, John Feidler, John
Gray, Joseph Grau, William B. Goodling, Edward Garrett, Fred Hoff,
Joseph Hopkinson, William G. Howell, John G. Hoyhicht, Henry
Hove, Levi Jackson, William Kelley, James Kelley, George Koyer
James Lyons, John Lee, Henry Lotze, Charles Lapp, James Moore,
Charles Meyers, Edward O'Mallay, Peter Philips, Martin Richardson,
Michael Roth, Thomas Southwait, Michael Sherer, Peter Spreyer,
George Thomson, George Turpin, Henry Weaving, Thomas Watson,
Michael Walsh, Daniel Carroll, George C. M. Heglin, Timothy
Keeshaw, Lewis Koehan, Andrew Manning, John C. Peterson, Dennis
Reardin (No. i), Jacob Schutt, Thomas Virtue, Robert H. White,
Killed in Battle. — Corporals Thomas Hozs and Patrick Sullivan ;
Private George H. Neihaus.
Died. — Private George Howard.
Transferred. — Michael Collins, Thomas Davies, Porter Dennin,
Clemens Rozeman.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Henry E. Symmes.
Captain Morgan S. Shaw.
Captain Charles B. Jacobs.
First Lieutenant Theodore A. Startsman.
First Lieutenant Fred Fairfax.
First Lieutenant Wilson B. Gaither.
First Lieutenant Herman Strieker.
First Lieutenant John M. Paver.
Second Lieutenant Charles Friedeborn.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant James H. Cline.
Sergeant Peter Schneider.
Sergeant Frank Millen.
Sergeant William G. Rafferty.
Corporal Charles S. Horn.
Corporal Robert Kind.
Corporal Harrison Goddard.
Corporal William W. Watkins. -
Corporal Aaron H. Templeton.
Corporal Francis H. Defiie.
Corporal James Crawford.
Musician James Dwyre.
PRIVATES.
William F. Black, Charles E. Burr, James Browsley, George S.
Bostler, George M. Clayton, Luther Conklin, Alfred Craig, Mathew
Clyne, John Carroll, John H. Donaldson, Charles A. Etzler, Orlando
Fox, James Fox, John Fries, Jacob Frietze, John Feldner, Matthew
Flemming, Charles Gord, William Geaniard, Leonard Hessnold,
William Haunsz, Charles Johnston, John Kern, James A. Morrow,
Ludwig Mauhlig, Christian Querner, Benjamin Roasker, Andrew J.
Sellers, John F. Spriggs, Frederick Sommers, Xavier Switzer, Peter
Smith, Cyrus E. Watkins, Benjamin Yeates, John Myers, Herman
Brown, John Casey, George B. Campbell, William Egner, Theodore
Fox, James Jones, Thomas Kennedy, John Loback, John McDonald,
Philip A. McConnel, Sylvester P. Maxon, James O'Connor, Richard
Reeves, John Stotsman, Jacob Wright, Charles Wier, Thomas Wilch.
Killed in battle.— Corporals John W. Clayton, Parker S. Robinson,
Charles Talbott, George W. Young ; Privates William Bogart, Wil-
liam H. Bogart, Charles Gill, Henry C. Jacobs, Charles L. Perkins,
William H. Arbor.
• Died. — Corporal Richard Bussey ; Privates John Brumry, Daniel W.
Beck, Joseph Coleman, John F. Coverdale, George Case, Bonkratz
Deinline, Peter Gisswood, Hezekiah Smith, Frederick Lousing, Silas
C. Woolsten.
Discharged,— Charles Fairfax, Henry P. McKenzie, James A. Mc-
Collough, Herman Strieker, George W. Stone, William P. Sands, Paul
CroUey, George W. Gough, Samuel Hall, John Stallcup, Henry A.
Wetsell, Charles S. Howard, Agustus Querner, Henry Albers, Cornelius
L. Andrews, James Bogart, Charles Bascom, Moses Bray, Thomas
Bradley, David Crolley, William Cotter, James S. Cross, John Clucos,
David A. Casstellen, Daniel K. Charles, Michael Cassiday, Daniel
Cook, Wyatt Cordell, William Clark, Emery B. Day, William Doug-
lass, John C. Doudney, Bartholomew Ehlenbest, Frederick Easton,
Reuben T. Everhard, Henry Foot, Frederick Foot, Frederick Faulkin-
burg, Joseph Fettevar, George Fiestone, Leonard Griggs, John Good-
hue, John Gardner, David Goodrich, George Gardner, Henry Hess,
Thomas Hudson, James S. Hayden, Joseph Horton, George Hazen,
Reuben Knox, James Leonard, David McDaniel, Thomas G. Morrow,
William Miller, James Morrow, William McCormick, Frederick Miller,
Edward Newman, Samuel E. Palmer, Samuel E. Pierpoint, Charles
Querner, Michael Swier, Charles Sanders, Henry Stuffrigen, George
W. Shipley, John Story, William J. Skimball, Charles S. Swaine,
Edward Shellhorn, Robert Shipps, George Shane, John C. Stebbins,
Joseph Tonacliff, Grafton M. Thrasher, Jacob Troy, Frederick Vocht,
Henry Walters, Harvey Woodard, William Wiedeman, Nicholas
Walters, Richard B. Wright, Joseph Wippragtiger.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Joseph L. Gaul; Sergeant Andrew J.
Barr; Privates William D. Bloom, Thomas H. Turner, Henry Hill,
Francis W. McNally, Augustus Moonert.
On muster-in, but not on muster-out roll. — Corporal Henry S.
Fecheimer.
COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Robert Hays.
Captain Robert Kirkup.
Captain Jere Robinson.
First Lieutenant Robert Logan.
First Lieutenant James Clark.
First Lieutenant Herman Belmer.
Second Lieutenant Krewson Yerkes.
NON-CO,MMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant Donald McLeod.
Sergeant John Lee.
Sergeant Thomas Gorman.
Corporal Henry Huber.
Corporal David C. Harrison.
PRIVATES.
Archibald Bowie, Paul Bealer, James Craig, Flenry S. Cohn,
Andrew C. Chamberland, William H. Dunlap, Charles Dubois, Rich-
ard Evans, John Fords, John Fisk, John Farleigh, Benjamin Fry,
Henry Fulman, Gottheb Fiedel, Christopher Gable, Henry B. House-
man, James Hopkinson, Peter Huber, Francis Henskie, James H.
Jacobs, George W. Lively, Henry Longa, Henry Myers, James H.
Mahon, Malcolm McMillen, Joseph Morean, James O'Connor, Martin
Pistner, Martin Richardson, Henry Rist, Joseph Roth, Charles Robin-
son, Joseph Steinbecker, Jacob Schillenburg, Lucas Sebastian,
Michael Shirer, John Shumate, Oliver Sturgis, Charles Smith,
WiUiam Swigart, Frank Thomas, John M. Taylor, Daniel Winters,
WilUam Wright, Noah Anderson, William Bingham, William J.
Bradford, ."Uexander Bradford, James Bains, Marion M. Black, Daniel
Blankman, Dennis Berry, William Conger, William Cox, Milton Car-
lile, Daniel Corigan, Jere Cronin, Samson Delworth, Samuel W. Down-
ing, Martin Enderidan, Patrick Fitzgerald, Michael Fitzgerald, Peter
Gremmell, William Garber, James Graham, John Hannah, James H.
Howard, William Henderson, John Harris, Nicholas Haust, William
J. Hastings, Peter Jordon, William Johnson, Henry Johns, Levi Jack-
son, William Keene, William Kelley, John Kirby, Matthew Kenney,
William Lister, Daniel McGlinn, Joseph Myers, Charles B. Martin,
Burnett Moran, Patrick Maloney, Robert Miller, Charles Murphy,
Joseph Lipphart, Frank Long, Emerson Horton, John Nelson, Josiah
92
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Paris, William Patterson, Edward Rice, Henry Riese, Archibald Rob-
bins, James Ryan, James Roecamp, Charles Scott, John Smith,
Modest Urbine, James Vaughan, Newman Whitney, James Wilson,
Samuel Winston.
Killed in battle. —Sergeant David Johnson; Corporals Charles E,
Gray, Hugh Liddy; Privates Daniel Bowie, Peter Gewton, Martin
Healy, Albert C. Harrison, Henry Hill, John HoUihan, Charles
Hausel, Henry Lippen, Henry Myers, James Roberts, Frederick
Shoemaker, Henry Shaw, Peter Strassell.
Died. — Frederick Morey, Albert Buchart, John Buike, James Davis,
John Logan, John Lenhart, John Nolan.
Discharged. — First Sergeant Wilson B. Gaither; Sergeants Patrick
Conway, Joseph Doak, Tobias Hattle, John McElhaney, Jere B.
Roscoe; Corporals Thomas Aitkin, William T. Darlington, Charles
Dillon, Richard E. Forger, George Gates, George Granger, Michael H.
Garry, Joseph Morgan, George Peare, Ferdinand W. Schulties;
Teamster John Solomon; Musician George W. Foster; Privates Wil-
liam Alexander, Sebastian Butz, Frederick Bruning, Henry A. Bier-
man, Samuel Balby, Joseph' Bradford, Benjamin Clyne, James Cul-
bertson, Robert Dow, William Dow, Henry Doner, Baltizer Ernest,
Marshal H. Folger, William Franks, Adam Felix, Trimble Ford, Wil-
liam Fortney, John Farrington, Valentine Gibb, William J. Gordon,
Eddy Goin, John Gibney, William B. Gooding, Peter Griffin, Joseph
Hollinger, Richard Hassett, Abraham Hening, Thomas Humphreys,
Thomas Hussey, Robert Hoendorf, Charles Harris, Franklin C. Harvey,
Edwin Hughes, Philip Hockindhammer, Thomas G. Hooper, Lemuel
Hisson, Benton Jones, John Kuster, Peter Kummer, Jacob Kummer,
John Knosp, Thomas Lewis, Philip Lippert, Simon Marienthal, Mat-
thew McCracken, Jonathan Mitchell, Peter A. Mark, Josiah Mc-
. Knight, Andrew Noidheim, John O'Neil, Bruman Osmers, Alex-
ander Patten, John Rentz, Andrew Ryan, Michael Richett, Andrew
Simons, James Steward, George W. Schmidt, William .Spearing,
Xavier Stoll, James Trooborn, John Troy, Orlando Van Skiver, James
York.
Transferred. — Sergeants Eli Delzell, James Clark; Corporal John
McGregor; Privates James Deamon, Owen Healy, William McAllister,
Thomas Mountjoy, Henry Williams, Ulysses Cox, Leopold Ahlenfeld,
John Laken, George Lanehart, William Schmitte.
Mustered out with company D, but not on company rolls. — Private
Emmet Goddard.
COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain George B. Whitcom.
Captain Louis C. Robinson
Captain William U. Dick.
Captain Krewson Yerkes.
Captain Joseph Plaisted.
First Lieutenant George A. Thorpe.
First Lieutenant Heniy Brinkman.
First Lieutenant Stephen Coddington.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Charles Williams.
Sergeant Martin Ruffley.
Sergeant Christian Kroog.
Sergeant Samuel McCormack.
Corporal William Miller.
Corporal James Smith.
PRIVATES.
Harry Bloomer, John BaskerviUe, George Beercis, Thomas Bruner,
James Cavenaugh, Jolin D. Craddick, John Carney, George F. Dun-
can, Joseph Dupee, Francis G. Davis, John W. Free, William Gal-
breath, Marcellus Gray, Gustavus Hirsch, Joseph Hughes, James Jack-
son, William Ketcham, Lawrence King, George Kellogg, John Line,
James Moorehead, Christian Millingcr, .Aaron Miller, JohnW. Morgan,
John Manch, Henry McGiven, Joseph Nedderman, Jere Simpson, Al-
exander Tilton, Samuel Tapping, Henry Weismiller, William Wyatt,
Gottleib Winkelman, James Anderson, Daniel Burns, John Barrett,
Thomas H. Burgess, William Crouse, Henry Carr, James Duckworth,
Andrew L. Dohavant, John Dalton, Cornelius Donohue, Francis Gaff-
ney, Theophius G. Hammond, William Hefferman, Patrick Kennedy,
Henry E, Miller, Charles Muegga, Patrick Martin, Micafah T. Nor-
dyke, James Riley, John Reinhart, Arnold Stuttleberg, Patrick Shea,
William Vaughn, Edward R. Wood.
Killed in Battle. — Sergeant Edward Swain; Coiporals George W.
Gentle and Ingersoll B. Sheridan; Privates John W. Armstrong,
Thomas Burns, Alonzo Carnahan, John Fortune, John Garner, Peter
Hassel, Joseph Hunter, Franklin Huntly, Jacob Kalcoff, William B.
Mayjers, Robert Spellman, William .Spellman.
Died. — Sergeant Lawrence Vial; Privates John G. Hudson, Freder-
ick Lanfersiek, James Pollock, Perry Wright.
Discharged.— First Sergeants Charles A. Thorpe and Joseph Plais-
ted; Sergeant Charles A. Walker, Morgan S. Shaw, William H. Wil-
liams; Corporals Simson H. Cottle, Emery A. Hurlbut, Benjamin F.
Kephart, Randolph Minnick, Benton R. Noble; Musician Philip C.
Maddocks; Teamster Thomas R. Folger; Pri\ates George W. Aldridge
William Anderson, John Anderson, William L. Anginbaugh, Joseph
E. Asper, Robert BaskerviUe, Patrick Brady, Charles M. Brown, John
Brinkman, Alfred Coleman, Charles Cobb, Joseph Corderman, Thomas
Dale, James Dillon, Joseph Derwoet, Alva H. Doan, Abraham Egger,
William Enyart, Francis Enyart, Charles A. Fisher, William Fisher,
Frederick Funk, Cyrus C. Foote, William Foley, John A. Fenner,
William Gould, Louis Gegan, Joseph Goodall, John J. Gold, Joseph
Huff, Edwin Hindley, Michael Huber, Perry Hallan, Henry Huene-
man, Edward H. Hardin, Jonas Heaton, Joseph Hell, John Heyer,
Eli Heifner, Thomas Hudson, William G. Hanley, Jonas Hale, Fred-
erick Hauck, Shelton Ingram, John Inquire, James F.Jones, Peter J.
Jennings, Peter Kraning, John Know, William L. Kee, Adam Long,
Henry Lawson, John Lewis, Joseph Lansihger, Isaac Listen, John R.
Lamb, Edward Myers, Robert Morse, James May, John Martin, Peter
A. Miller, Thomas Poland, George Petzer, George Peet, Michael Phe-
lan, Elmer S. Rosebrough,*Jacob B. Rahn, Thomas Rice, John Rice,
Alfred G. Swain, Lewis C. Smith, Edward Stoner, Henry Strock, Eli
Tarbutton, Robert H. Thrush, Henry Tealbozle, Charles A. Thorpe,
Henry Wisselman, John W. Wright, Nathan Williams, Theodore
Wright, Alfred Winter, A. Wilson, Albert Wo'.f, Robert Young, Jacob
Yeager, Henry Yeager, William Brown.
Transferred.— First Sergeants Herman Belmer and James Richey;
Sergeants Henry A. Trotman and Henry C. Koogle; Musician Wash-
ington G. Bennett; Privates John Collins, George Gates, Franklin
Morrell, Gersham D. Miller, Andrew Seary, James Woods.
COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Theopilus Gaines.
Captain James Kincaid.
Captain Benjamin Jelleff, jr.
Captain Stephen Coddington.
Captain Henry C. Koogle.
First Lieutenant Robert Brumwell.
First Lieutenant Alexander A. Littell.
First Lieutenant Lewis S. Stevens.
First Lieutenant Joseph Grunkemeyer.
First Lieutenant Jere Robinson.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First .Sergeant Spillman Jones.
Sergeant Vansant Morris.
Sergeant Charles Henke.
Sergeant George Enocke.
Corporal Frederick Hoff.
Corj^oral John Lemon.
Corporal William Parker.
Musician William Lister.
PRIVATES.
Ferdinand Axtell, Edwin Booth, Henry Dowka, William Foley, John
Gray, Henry Lotze, Herman Pieper, Henry Wellman, Abner C. Wil-
son, Christian Behring, George W. Belcher, John P. Burns, John
Brace, Windsor M. Buck, Philip Bolther, John Dillon, Gideon Hyde,
Mich.ael Laducer, John Lottmair, John Leonhard, David McNally,
Charles W. McFarlin, Cornelius Morris, John Tompkins, John
Thompson, William Umstead, Jeremiah Kennedy, Lewis Landers,
Francis Malloy, William McDonald, Da\id McOllister, Jacob Minet,
Frank Miller, Nicholas Nernsgen, Henry Ohr, Nicholas D. Patry, Pat-
rick Varley, Cornelius Welsch.
Killed in Battle. — Sergeant Charles VanHautan; Corporals Valen-
tine Helde and John McCabe; Privates Frederick W. Drexelions,
Richard Heringer, Charles Hinck, John H. Haner, William Huchnen-
koch, John Miller, Frederick Preismyer, Horace Squires, Michael Vo-
glebauch.
Died. — Corporal John F. Behrens; Privates Isaac A. Baum, Richard
Carston, Thomas McCune, John McClintock, George W. Noggle, Wil-
liam H. Nash, George W. Westerman.
Discharged. — First Sergeants Jeremiah Robinson and Charles D.
Moore; Sergeants William H. Lee, George W. Helde, James Kelley,
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
93
Joseph W. Miller, James Fitch; Corporals Joseph Grunkemeyer, Jesse
McLane, John Baker, Joseph Smoozka, John Stevens, Francisco
Leach; Privates Wilham T. Aichles, Daniel Belsher, Joseph Brogle,
Carston Bode, William B. Bennemyer, George Brown, James Britt,
Henry Brokarap, Michael Boyle, John W. Carr, Daniel L. Carson, An-
drew Crawford, John Coleman, William F. Cain, Patrick Claffy,
Charles T. Doney, Reuben Daily, James Emerson, Frederick Evers,
James Farrell, Jacob Folhorbst, Charles Goble, Thomas Render,
Moses Harmon, Edward Hemstreal, Henry Hanker, Ferdinand Hab-
enicht, John Ingle, John Jungciaus. Peter Kunkel, Frederick Knost,
Francis Kroger, David Ketcham, Francis Ludlow, John Loughner,
Jonas Lantz, Andrew Myers, Michael Moran, Frederick Mohus, Jacob
Mumford, Christian Myers, James McFaiiand, Patrick McDonald,
William McGafifick, William S. Moore, James McKnery, John Martin,
David W. Merrell, John Messersmith, August Minning, John Myer,
John McGrork, Isaac N. Moses, Henry Myers, Edward McLean, Bar-
ney New, Andrew Nesselhof, George Oswalt, Daniel Oswalt, John L.
Oswalt, Loyd Pardee, John Patterson, Pleasant W. Randall, James
Robinson, Lewis H. Stevens, Joseph B. Stevens, John Slopner, Jacob
Stube, James F. Schuier, Adam Fritsch, John H. Wellerman, Cornelius
Welsch, William A. Hinch, Charles Lapp, Charles Viner; Corporals
James Reynolds, jr. and John Lally, Teamster John B. Maddocks.
Transferred. — Corporal Charles Lillelt; Privates Henry Carr, John
Craddick, Barney Fledderman, Seth James, Jesse McLean, Martin
Madder, John Springmyer, George Tyce, James Trasher, G. Winkel-
man.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Alonzo C. Horton.
Captain Waldo C. Booth.
Captain Theodore A. Startzman.
Captain Austin T. Shirer.
First Lieutenant PYederick W. Moore.
First Lieutenant Colin F. McKinzie.
First Lieutenant Alexander Lytell.
First Lieutenant Morgan S. Shaw.
Second Lieutenant Patrick McCann.
Second Lieutenant Augustus Moonert.
Second Lieutenant Charles Walker.
Second Lieutenant Charles S. Jessup.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Philip Nunn.
Sergeant George B. Annawault.
Sergeant Herbert L. Sheppard.
Sergeant John T. Callander.
Corporal David P. Bell.
Corporal Thomas K. Ross.
Corporal Andrew M. Morris.
Corporal Wilham Soller.
Corporal Henry Eichler.
Corporal Frank Horst.
Corporal William Kruse.
Musician Henry R. Haywood.
PRIVATES.
Henry Adams, Jason Atterholt, Benjam.in D. Barton, James Blake,
Frank Bush, Thomas Carroll, Patrick Carroll, John F. Collins, William
Eichler, Henry Eifert, Jacob Fry, George Geisendorf, Anthony Gerst
Samuel G. Hyndman, Samuel Jenkins, John Julien, John P. Julien'
Andrew Lister, Francis Murphy, James McMillen, William H. Ran-
som, Thomas Trustman, August Worthmiller, William C. Wilson, Nel-
son Barrett, AlexanderM. Gates, Mallam, John Madden, Michael Quim
Killed in battle. — Corporals Wilson Gregg, AUonzo Myers, George
H. Thompson; Privates Andrew Coleman, Anthony LaForce, Thomas
Nolan, Thomas Mundy.
Died. — Privates James Estelle, Symond Kohn, Anthony Murville,
William Papner, Richard P. Ryan.
Discharged. — Sergeants Benjamin Ford, William Hallam, Charles S.
Jessup, James Leeke, Patrick McCann, John A. Mohr, William Winter.
Corporals Henry K. Horton, Charles A. Sperment, Wilham H.Webber'
Musicians Edwin Lockwood, John L. McDougall; Privates Edward R.An.!
thony, George Bahn, Noah Brake, Edward Barrett, Richard ConoUy, Wil-
liam Dorum, Andrew Donovan, Samuel Edgar, Lewis Fries, James Farm-
er, John C. Foener, William Galbreth, Christopher Google, Oscar
Gunranet, Marion Hargrave, Samuel Hatcher, George Kerr, Lewis Lee.
son, Andrew Mather, George Morris, David Pickett, James H. Rider, Mer-
edith H. Surrener, Frank Schaffer, John Speck, William Ubert, John
A. Van, Frederick Wolschlager, William P. Worth.
Transferred. — Corporal Charles Baldwin; Musician James S. Cross;
Privates Charles Ambruster, William H, Harton, Francis M. Neil,
George W. Shipley, Henry Webb.
On muster-in, but not on muster-out roll. — Sergeant Edward D.
Spooner; Privates Joseph Burkhardt, Charles Evans, John Sullivan,
John Snatse, Charles Tribbe.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain John F. Fletcher.
Captain William V. Neely.
Captain Joseph M. Jackaway.
Captain Alexander Mott.
First Lieutenant George Frazier.
First Lieutenant Joseph L. Gaul.
First Lieutenant Henry C. Koogle.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant George W. Tyrrell.
Sergeant Eugene Jacobs.
Sergeant Herman Annegam.
Sergeant Patrick Healy.
Corporal Conrad Baker.
Corporal Henry Kane.
Corporal William C. Powell.
Corporal Martin Van Hughes.
Corporal William Barnum.
Corporal Joseph S. Miller. ^
Corporal Michael Varner.
Wagoner William Myers.
PRIVATES.
John Carey, William Cooper, Joseph M. Evans, Terrence Earle,
Christopher Farlan, Martin Gillum, Timothy Grady, John Lanten-
schlager, John Michael, John McDermott, WiUiam Kenney, John Rob-
inson, Frederick Sunderman, George Simpson, Miles Stansifer, John
J. Wilson, Hugh Best, Oscar Brown, John Dyer, Thomas Dunn, Mar-
tin Earson, Richard Farrell, Patrick Flanney, Frederick Oilman, Michael
Kilkarry, Natus Legg, William Moran, Martin Moore, John Madden,
John Neil, Charles Peterson, Phineas Piatt, Richard Price, David
Quick, Jacob Snyder, Alfred Wagoner.
Killed in battle. — Privates Herman Drentler, Jeremiah Hanley, John
McGoverney, Michael Pennyfeaiher, John Tigur, John Uplicher, Wil-
liam Washman, Frederick Wermsing.
Died. — Sergeant William Boyd, Corporal Martin Hoare ; Privates
John G. Johnte, Leander H. Fisher, Thomas Kelley, William Tyler,
Moritz Wenalestein, Alexander Weichell.
Discharged. — First Sergeant Alexander Mott; Sergeants James B.
Russell, Henry Surls, Joseph M. Jackaway, Charles B. Jacobs ; Corpor-
als James Card, John Crawley, Daniel Salmon, Jeremiah Osterhaus ;
Musicians Frank Henlan, George B. Ray ; Bugler William Davis ;
Wagoner Joseph D. Murray; Privates Adam Alexander, Jesse Alexan-
der, Joseph Branjanbey, James Belleville, Augustus A. Bond, Robert
Bussemeyer, Belthazer Clauer, David Clark, Alfred B. Chognill, John
W. Day, Elijah Dix, James B. Davis, John G. Engler, Samuel Frank
Michael Freund, George H. Frazier, William Goddard, Lafayette
Hughes, Alberto Harley, James Jones, Joseph Kaufman, Michael
Kaufman, Joseph Kerler, Michael J. Kelley, George Limmerie, James
Linton, Peter Morling, Thomas Manning, Joseph Mantz, James Mc-
Innes, Joseph McConnaughey, William Mahoney, George Murray,
Joseph A. Miller, Christian Meuller, David D. Millnime, Segfried Mack,
John H. Porter, George Peppard, Lawrence Price, Jesse Parker, Wil-
liam T. Phillips, William Partee, Charles Ponce, William H. Pritchard,
William Ray, Henry Richper, Samuel Robbins, David Ricketts, John
Roetgerman, Joseph Raddiger, John Ryder, Simon Rousch, William
Ray, John A. Sherman, Isaac R. Snyder, Abraham Schnell, Isaac Steffe,
Benjamin J. Scott, Joel Straub, George Steffe, Joseph Snyder, John
Schlatter, John Scott, Clinton F. Taggert, William Warnafeldt, George
Moore.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Michael Ward ; Privates George Bridg-
nian, James Lyons, James Murray, John V. Smith, Edward White.
COMPANY I.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain John Collins.
Captain Thomas W. Hefferman.
94
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Captain John C. McDonald.
Captain Edward R. Anthony.
First Lieutenant Joseph Rudolph.
First Lieutenant James Timmons.
First Lieutenant Charles S. Jessup.
First Lieutenant Henry C. Koogle.
Second Lieutenant William H. Thomas.
Second Lieutenant Hiram R. Treher.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant John Ross.
Sergeant Joseph H. Christy.
. Sergeant John Griysinger.
■ Sergeant Joseph B. Bailey,
Sergeant Victor H. Felix.
Corporal Henry J. Heckrotte.
Musician Joseph Ranl^in.
Teamster Frederick Farmer.
PRIVATES.
Manuel Benetes, Cliarles R. Barkley, James Conway, William David-
son, William Doyle, Delos Hills, Kneelan Hills, George J^. Johnson
George R. Jones, Henry Miller, James McClellan, Daniel J. O'Con-
nell, Austin Parrotte, James W. Stephens, Thomas Watts, John Weber,
WiUiaiTiZurfas. James J. Atkins, Michael CoUing, J oshuaDavidson, Ed-
ward Martin, Paul C. Preston, William Riley, Smith Richardson, Elihu
Rising, John Smith, Henry Sullivan, John Zimmerman.
Killed in battle. — Sergeant George Kent ; Corporals Thomas B,
Isdell, Frank Luchte; Privates Albert C. Day, George E.xall, Pete^
Gillion, Charles H. Helfred, Andrew Zurfas.
Died. — Corporal Patrick Fitzgibbons ; Privates William B. S. Ander-
son, Henry A. Balser, William Bragg, John A. Cowan, Alexander S.
Rower, Leverette H. S. Whitcom.
Discharged. — First Sergeants Martin Baninger, William H. Thomas,
James Trumons, Hiram R. Treher; Sergeant Frederick W. Savin !
Corporals Henry Wilson, Frank S. Wallace ; Musician H. C. R. Ru.
dolph ; Privates Mintonville Aokley, John Butler, Francis M. Bates,
Cassius N. Bentz, John Conway, George W. Chambers, Henry
Domaille, Stephen D. Evans, John Evans, John R. Gray, Henry P.
Hewitt, John B. Huffman, Robert B. Isdell, Samuel Jones, Benjamin
F. Knight, Albert H. Lewis, William H. Mantz, Thomas McLaugh-
lin, Orlando Moon, Samuel Remley, Jacob Schmucker, William
Sheffield, James Wilson, James A. Wftrring, William F. Wallace.
Transferred. — Corporal Joseph B. Hedrick; Musician Henry Kent;
Privates Thomas Finan, Wesley C. Hickman, William H. H. Hubbell,
Samuel J. Knof, WiUiam C. Tomlinson.
On muster-in, not on muster-out roll. — First .Sergeant Harry G.
Armstrong; Privates Henry Hayward, Thomas Marlatt, Samuel Robin-
son, Frank Seaman.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Charles H. Jackson.
Captain James Kinkead.
Captain Rolandes E. Fisher.
Captain Martin Barringer.
First Lieutenant Thomas W. Hefferman.
First Lieutenant Stephen Coddington.
First Lieutenant Matthias Schwab.
Second Lieutenant Charles W. Smith.
Second Lieutenant Morgan S. Shaw.
Second Lieutenant William P. Jackson.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Benjamin E. Ford.
Sergeant Meredith H. Surriner.
Sergeant Samuel T. Wolf.
Sergeant William H. Harrison.
Corporal Frederick Wulschlager.
Corporal George Crystal.
Corporal Frank Shafer.
Teamster Alexander Patton.
PRIVATES.
M. Ackley, Richard Barton, Edward Cecilious, Henry Durr, John
Evans, William J. Hastings, Jeremiah Hirsch, Thomas Higgins, Willis
J. Mills, Horace Marsh, Charles Querner, Henry C. R. Rudolph, Mar-
tin Rice, John Speck, Henry Schraff, Tim Shay, Daniel Sullivan, James
Thompson, Jacob Van Pelt,_ William Wetdeman, Thomas J. Blair,
John Butler, Antoine Buckley, Charles Bowman, Charles Cronin, Ale.x-
ander Chatman, William B. Davidson, James H. Dow, Frank Davis,
William B. Duncan, Peter Derbey, Charles Edwards, Robert Gill, Wil-
liam Hughes, John Henderson, George Martin, James Ryan, John
Summer, John N. Smith, John Shewbridge, William J. Scott, Henry
Tick, John Williams, Thomas White, Milo Wiley, John Williams.
Killed in Battle. — Sergeant James J. Kelley ; Privates George H.
Bahn, William Givens, Alfred J. Jones, Lorenzo Kendall, John H. Sass.
Died. — Sergeant Oscar S. Kincaid ; Privates Charles H. Lyon, Con-
rad Schmuch.
Discharged. — First Sergeant R. E. Fisher, Sergeants Edwin F. Arm-
stead, Walter Elliott, Edward L. Quinton, Matthias Schwab, Cadwalla-
der J. Collins, William Bowman, Andrew Brownell, Thomas Collins,
Charles EUick, Lycurgus C. Earhavt, Daniel Hudson, Thomas Lukens,
Roderick Maguire, Samuel Morehead, Charles Pendry, William Trindle,
James Wheeler, Joseph Westendorf, William C. Wright, Henry C.
Campbell, John Gray, William Asbury, William Boggs, George Bascom,
George W. JJailey, Mark A. Bairs, Joseph H. Baldwin, Frederick B.
Barney, John Craft, Lewis Copp, Cubbertson Collins, Frank Cuppin,
John Crippin, George C. Cloud, Jeremiah Calden, Jacob S. Crane,
Herman Clousing, John Cruger, Samuel Craig, Richard Calhoun,
Charles Connelly, James Doyle, Thomas P. Davis, Charles Dimmick,
Peter M. Drum, William Evans, JobEsline, John Finley, Jacob Fritch,
Joseph Ferguson, David J. Gibbon, Lewis C. Gill, Frederick Greenr
field, Edgar F. Howell, Peter Hemmer, Hiram H. Huntley, Thomas
Hastings, William R. Hille, William Hodwell, John A. Jamison, James
Kamboll, William G. Keeley, William H. Knight, Howard H. King,
James Lamb, John Mason, William Mayan, James Minnis, Cleon Mc-
Donald, Peter Mettler, John P. Medaris, John M. McClennan, John
P. Murphy, Charles C. McKinsey, James W. Maddo.x, George Phillips,
Hiram Preston, William K. Rodgers, John E. Rosser, Clinton J. Riley
William H. Rungle, Philip Riggs, William C. Ramsdell, Charles Rose!
burgh, George E. Shoney, Andrew Settle, Daniel Smith, John Swee-
ney, Cephas Shull, James Sproul, Christopher Silk, Samuel H. Smith,
Truman B. Sloan, John G. Selig, Samuel Trindle, Frank Taylor,
George Wilhelm, Henry Wamsley, Thomas Welstead, Andrew White,-
John Weisner, William D. Ware, Herman Weichert, Levi Withrow,
William Weaver, Robert Webster, . Oscar Wright, Samuel Walton,
Samuel Wise, George Williams, Frank Wilder.
Transferred. — Sergeant Stephen Coddington, John T. Callender, Pe-
ter A. Cozine, John Ross; Privates Henry Bloomer, Thomas F. Camp-
bell, George P. Humphries, William P. Jackson, William Siebert, Al-
fred Spencer, Edward White, Charles Williams.
On muster in, but not muster out roll. — Private George Scott.
On muster-in rolls of recruits, but not accounted for on muster-out
rolls of regiment. — Privates Frank Anthony, Thomas Byrnes, Barney
Burns, Edward Barrett, David Breedloor, George Curtis, Frank Dorst,
Charles Druning, Patrick Donahue, John Duffey, James Dorsey, Leon-
ard Gungel, James Gillen, John Govert, Sidney Haggarty, Charles
Hassett, Edward Hawthorne, William Jackson, Carl Kray, David F.
Lewis, Robert S. McClure, John F. Mealy, John Mahony, Jasper N.
Meeks, Henry Moore, Henry G. Miller, James McFarland, Henry Mc-
Grew, John Payne, William Roberts, Thomas W. Scott, John Tucker,
Edwin R. Trenner, William Thompson, Albert Wood, Charles Wil-
liams, John Williams, Robert T. Wilson, John Wilson, Patrick Wal-
ters, James Wood, August C. Buckley.
Drafted men and substitutes for Hamilton county assigned to this
regiment, but not accounted for on its muster out rolls. — Lewis Burke,
John Britton, James Campbell, James Stevens, John Williams.
SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY.
The nucleus of the Sixth was an independent organiza-
tion in Cincinnati — the Guthrie Gray battalion. It was
recruited in April, 1861, for three months, and mustered
April 1 8th, at Camp Harrison, by Major (afterwards
Major General) Gordon Granger. It reorganized in June
for three years, and mustered June iSth, with one thou-
sand and sixteen officers and men.' It arrived at Grafton,
West Virginia, June 30th, marched to Philippi Indepen-
dence day, and thence to Laurel Hill, where it took part
against Garret's rebels and in their pursuit, ending in the
action at Carrick's Ford July loth. On the twentieth it
moved to Beverly, where Colonel Bosley took command
of the post, and in August reached Cheat mountain,
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
95
where it lost Captain Bense, Lieutenants Scheiffer and
Oilman, and forty men of company I, taken prisoners
while on picket. In November the regiment was trans-
ported to Louisville to join Buell's Army of the Ohio,
and placed in the Fourth division under General Nelson,
and Fifteenth brigade, Colonel Hascall, commanding.
It remained in camp of instruction at Camp Wickliffe,
sixty miles- south of Louisville, till the middle of Feb-
ruary, 1862, when it was taken up the Cumberland river
to Nashville, just after the surrender of Fort Donelson.
It was the first of the Army of the Ohio to reach that
city, and its regimental flag was the first national color
hoisted on the State house. Here the Sixth was changed
to the Tenth brigade. March 27th the army pushed,
southward, and the Sixth was in the advance of Buell's
forces that came up to relieve the distressed combatants
at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, reaching the line just
in time to repel the last charge made by the rebels upon
the left that day. It was not very actively engaged the
next morning, but supported a battery gallantly, under
heavy artillery fire. After the battle it was encamped
upon the field until May 24th, when it joined the advance
on Corinth, took full part in the operations there and in the
pursuit for sixty miles southward, returning through luka,
Tuscumbia, and Florence to Athens, Alabama, and there
staid in camp till July 17th, when the whole division was
removed to Murfreesborough, and then to McMinnville.
The Sixth was here quartered in the village, and did duty
as provost guards. August 17th the retrograde move-
ment of General Buell to the Ohio began; the Sixth
moved with its division to Louisville, and was there
brigaded with the Third brigade, Second division, Four-
teenth Army corps. It engaged in the chase of Bragg's re-
treating forces, until near Cumberland gap, and again en-
camped near Nashville November 23rd. In the advance
of Rosecrans' army upon Murfreesborough the last of
December, it did full share of skirmishing and picket
duty, and was very heavily engaged on the thirty-first,
losing one hundred and fifty-two by various casualties —
but only six prisoners — of three hundred and eighty-three
on the field. Other but smaller losses were sustained
shortly after. It went into camp for several months, eight
miles east of Murfreesborough, and while here, received
from the ladies of Cincinnati a beautiful stand of colors,
and from the city council a regimental banner, \yhich
were thenceforth proudly borne by the Sixth to the close
of its service. '
While at Cripple creek, it made several reconnois-
sances to the front, marched with the army against TuUa-
homa June 24, 1863, and remained encamped at Man-
chester from July 7th to August i6th, when the campaign
against Chattanooga began. It was in the battle of
Chickamauga, and lost one hundred and twenty-five of-
ficers and men of three hundred and eighty-four engaged.
Colonel Anderson was wounded in the first day's fight,
and Major Erwin commanded the regiment till the return
of Lieutenant Colonel Christopher from recruiting ser-
vice. At Chattanooga, after the battle, the Sixth went
into the Second brigade, Third division. Fourth corps.
It shared fully the privations of the starvation period
there, and a number of picked men from it were in the
action at Brown's Ferry October 25th, which relieved the
partial blockade. It was with its corps in the advance
on Orchard Knob, near Chattanooga, November 23rd,
and in the charge up Mission Ridge two days after.
Major Erwin was killed in the preliminary skirmish of
that day. On the twenty-eighth it moved to the relief of
Knoxville, then menaced by Longstreet, and encamped
near it December 7th. The winter and part of the
spring were spent in East Tennessee, in the severest ser-
vice the regiment had, marching much, living in shelter
tents, and subsisting scantily. April 12, 1864, it rested
near Cleveland, and did garrison duty till May 17th,
when it left to join the Atlanta campaign, and guarded
the railroad bridge at Resaca till June 6, when it was
ordered home to be mustered out, which was done at
Camp Dennison on the twenty-third. It had marched
three thousand two hundred and fifty miles, and other-
wise travelled two thousand six hundred and fifty, making
in all five thousand nine hundred miles. It was in four
pitched battles, losing three hundred and twenty-five
killed, wounded and missing, and in several minor ac-
tions. It had but sixteen deaths by disease, and at least
two hundred of its officers and men never lost a day's
duty. Thirty officers and four hundred and ninety-five
enlisted men were at the muster-out.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel William K. Bosley.
Colonel Nicholas L. Anderson.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. Christopher.
Major Anthony C. Russell.
Major Samuel C. Erwin.
Major James Bensc.
Surgeon Starling Loving.
Surgeon Alfred H. Stephens.
First Assistajit Surgeon Fisher W. Ames.
First Assistant Surgeon Israel Bedell.
Second Assistant Surgeon William W. Fountain.
Adjutant Charles H. Heron.
Adjutant Albert G. Williams.
Adjutant Everett S. Throop.
Quartermaster Edward M. Shoemaker.
Quartermaster Josiah W. Slanksr.
Sergeant Major Frank H. Mellon.
Quartermaster Sergeant Edwin A. Hannaford.
Commissary Sergeant Julius L. Stewart.
Hospital Steward Charles E. Lewis.
Principal Musician George W. Pyne.
Principal Musician John H. Bueltel.
Discharged. — Sergeant Majors, William E. Sheridan, Henry Gee,
Albert G. Wihiams, James E. Irwin, James E. Graham; Quartermaster
Sergeants, Charles C. Peck, William R. Goodnough; Commissary Ser-
geant Josiah W. Slanker; principal musicians, Joe A. Fifer, Benjamin
F. Phillips.
Transferred. — Quartermaster Sergeant Robert W. Wise.
COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Marcus A. WestroU. ""-— VVvJ C'C^S iCU
Captain Charles Gilman.
Captain Frank S. -Schieffer.
First Lieutenant Henry McAlpin.
First Lieutenant Jonathan B. Holmes.
First Lieutenant James R. Reynolds.
Second Lieutenant James M. Donavan.
Second Lieutenant Charles H. Foster.
Second Lieutenant George T. Lewis.
Second Lieutenant William P. Anderson.
Second Lieutenant William R. Goodnough.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Henry A. Petty.
Sergeant John W. Moore.
Sergeant Edwin Edwards. »
Sergeant Robert Delaney.
Sergeant Brian P. Critchell.
Corporal John A. Cashing.
PRIVATES.
William P. Babbett, Theodore Creager, Henry Coon, William De
Charmes, . Charles F. Dressel, Alexander Drennen, John A. Forbes,
Darius H. Gates, John W. Hussey, George C. James, Michael J.
Kelley. Charles D. Martindale, Charles Messerchmidt, Isaac Newman,
Christopher Roth, Clement Schivarte, Theodore W. Leib, Oliver H. P.
Tracy, James Valentine. John A. West, Henry W. Wilson; Under-
cook (colored), James Malone.
Killed in battle. — Sergeant James F. Canady; Corporals Kirkland
W. Caving, James M. Newman, Frank B. Brown, Henry Daggett,
Frank H. Halliday, William Kromer, Edward B. O'Brien.
Corporal Joseph Kell; Wagoner George W. Kelly; privates, Sam-
uel N. CoUings, Henry M. Lewis, Charles D. Murdock, Clement H.
Marzeretta, Edwin L. Smith.
Discharged. — First Sergeants Thomas H. Hunt, Jonathan B.
Holmes; Sergeants William P. Anderson, Albert De Villa, Charles D.
Jones, Everett Throop; Corporals Joseph A. Culbertson, Frank R.
Jones, Israel Ludlow, Charles Loomis, Channing Richards; Drummer
Alfred West; Privates William Bradford, Henry M. Cist, Josiah A.
Christinan, George De Charmes, Isaac H. Delong, Frank R, Davis,
Charles M. Evans, Wood Fosdick, Spencer Franklin, James B. Fair-
child, Louis A. Foot, Thomas Fitzgibbon. Theodore C. Fitch, Lee M.
Fitzburgh, William M. L. Gwynne, Dudley S. Gregory, Welcome L.
F. Gates, John W. Gamble, Henry F. Hawkes, Henry Hook, George
Hadel, WiUiam H. Jenkins, John Krucker, Charles Kensey, David
Love, Edward Manser, Elias R. Marifort, John E. Miner, James Moore,
Robert P. Moore, Levi Newkirk, Samuel H. Perry, Walter W. Pad-
dock, Edward S. Richards, James R. Reynolds, Herman Rodell, Edwin
F. Smith, Thomas M. Selby, Peter Shaw, John R. Stewart, Charles N.
Thompson, Thomas D. Vetach, Byron D. West.
Transferred.— First Sergeant Frederick N. Mellen; drum-major,
Jacob A. Fifer; Chief Musician Benjamin F. Phillips; Bugler George
W. Pyne; Privates Henry Herman, J;
Peck, Josiah W. Slanker, Julius L. Stewart.
On muster-in, but not no
Roenel.
Henahan, Charles C.
nuster-out roll. — Private Herman F.
COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Joseph A. Andrews.
Captain Henry McAlpin.
Captain Jules J. Montagnier.
First Lieutenant Charles B. Russell.
First Lieutenant James K. Reynolds.
First Lieutenant Henry C. Choate.
First Lieutenant Jonathan B. Holmes.
Second Lieutenant Thomas S. Royse.
Second Lieutenant Albert G. Williams.
Second Lieutenant Wesley B. McLane.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant George B. Young.
Sergeant Thomas M. Carr.
Sergeant Frederick J. Miller.
Sergeant GuyC. Nearing.
Sergeant Henry M. Palm.
Corporal John Harvey.
Corporal Louis N. Kibby.
Corporal David Schreiber.
Corporal Frederick Rodenberg.
Corporal Henry W. Kahle.
Wagoner Michael Coleman.
PRIVATES.
John Alver, William R. Bartlett, Christian Behrens, Alonzo Burgoyne,
John C. Bagott, William Barnes, Thomas M. Cleveland, John Cline,
Carlton C. Cable, Rush Drake, John Duffey, William E. Doherty
Charles Fitzwater, Emil Fitz, Albert Goetle, HoraceGates, John Keiss,
Sebastian Lerg, James Mitchell, Daniel T. Miles, Hiram Marsh,
Henry Miller, William M. Owen, Robert Rippon, Robert Rowell,
Louis N. Ries, Adam Rohe, Josiah H. Stratton, Samuel F. Smith,
Andrew Schuttenhelm, Moses Thaunhauser, James Warren, Edward
Wells, James B. Watkins, Richafd J. Williamson, John A. Zeigler,
Undercooks (African), Daniel Jennings, Pink Beagler.
Killed In battle. — Corporals Philip B. Helfenbein, David H. Medary,
Edwin H. Rowe; privates, Richard R. Allen, John Boerst, Albert
Hardy.
Missing in action.— John Logan, Benjamin Lewis.
Died. — Privates, John Aufderheide, Michael Behrman.
Deserted, — Corporal Charles W. Tolle; Privates Squier D. Gray,
Ellis E. Lloyd, Jacob Houck, William A. Mallance, Noah H. Phillips,
Edwin Stace, Joseph Scholer, John Wilson.
Discharged. — First Sergeants George W. Cormany, Chailes H. Fos-
ter, James Y. SeLUple; Sergeants Hibbard H. Hendricks, Stephen A.
Thayer, Edward B. Warren; corporals, Edward Brettman, John R.
Taylor; musician, Gustavus Franke; privates, Edwin H. Andrews,
John Collins, Theophilus Davis, Edward F. Gettier, John Helfenbein,
Jacob Hannanum, Hugo Hochstedter, Henry P. Jones, Henry Keiss,
Joseph Loeser, William J. Souther, Paul Merker, John P. Marvin,
Arthur Parker, Henry E. Roberts, Samuel D. Schroley, Frederick H.
Smithorst. William H. Windeler, Samuel Winram.
Transferred. — Sergeant William J. Thorp; Corporals Ebenezer
Hannaford, William Rowell; Privates Robert Andrews, Charles Burk-
hardt, Anson Clapper, Edwin A. Hannaford.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain J . W. Wilmington.
Captain Richard Smithgate,
First Lieutenant Francis H. Ehrman.
First Lieutenant John R. Kestner.
Second Lieutenant Charles Oilman.
Second Lieutenant Leonard Boice.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Matthew H. Hamilton.
Sergeant John C. Pope.
Sergeant Francis H. Thieman.
Sergeant William Boyd.
Corporal Edward P. Thome.
Corporal James Jordan.
Corporal Mervvin Crowe.
Corporal John Sykes.
Corporal John Hefferman.
PRIVATES.
Frederick Arberdale, William Bente, Anton Brown, John Callahan,
John Collins, Henry F. Engals, James Estell, David Fitzgibbon, Joseph
T. Fo.\, Hugh P. Gaddis, William J. Hadskeys, Henry Hane. David
Henson, Kayran Horan, Casper Keller, John Lurch, William Leick-
hardt, William Lidell, George Lind, Francis Ludwey, Edward Luthey,
Mitchell S. Morsbeck, Bernard C. Myers, Thomas J. Ryan, George
Santhoff, Ernest Schrieber, Francis Scott, Augustus Seiver, William L.
Smith, Henry Stocklin, Jacob Stocklin, Alfred H. Sulser, Lawrence
Swartz, Bernard Uhling. Under-cook Nathaniel Burnett.
Sergeant Bernard O'Farrel; Privates Gustave Bettge, John Burke,
Joseph Davis, Clements Dulle, Joseph M. Donohue, John Farmer,
William H. Holder, Joseph W. Haslen, James W. Kitchens, Charles
Keever, John B. McGee, James B. Meehan, Herman Mosler, George
Moore, George Mackley, Gustave Rhein, Frederick Smith, Joseph
Trickier, William H. Van Pelt, George Walters.
Killed in battle. — Corporal AK'es Kaelin.
Died. — Drummer William Schock, Corporal Hibbard P. Ward,
Privates Francis Kelley, William Taaffe, Herman Volkers.
Dicharged. — John R. Kestner, John Crotly, William Brown, August
Peters, Francis R. Fresch, Ezekiel Craven, Francis Farley, Thomas
Kerwin, J. H. Achtermeyer, George M. Backus, Rufus E. Byam, Wil-
liam A. Baldwin, Dennis Collins, James Collins, Charles Gauckler,
Frederick B. King, Joseph Kunkle, Horace A. Kelley, Henry W.
Kruse, William Kochler, Herman Kluffler, William L. Mackenzie,
Martin Meehan, Francis M. Murphy, Thomas Oliver, Michael Roger,
Simon B. Rice, John K. Smith, James W. Sharp, Andrew Schube,
John Saquens, Theodore Wager, Edward Williams, Joseph Weisbrod.
Transferred. — Privates, Edwin Ayres, Adolph Imaus. James M, Peak,
William Whiteside.
On muster-in but not on muster-out roll. — Privates John R. .Auch-
tumyer, William Burt, Jasper Kelley.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
97
COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Ezekiel H. Tatem.
Captain Cliarles B. Russell.
First Lieutenant John C. ParlvCr.
First Lieutenant George W. Morris.
Second Lieutenant Tliomas H. Boylan.
Second Lieutenant Harry Gee.
Second Lieutenant Joseph L. Antram.
Second Lieutenant William R. Glisan.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant William F. Bohning.
Sergeant William Bowers.
Sergeant Evel West.
Sergeant Amos Willoughby.
Sergeant Dennis O'Brien.
Corporal William A. Clockenburg.
Corporal William A. Yates.
Corporal William Drips.
Corporal John Turner.
Musician William A. Cormany.
Musician Oliver D. Blakeslee.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Anter, George W. Brown, August Bristol, John Butcher,
Herman Brockman, Frederick Bastian, Charles H. Bansley, Luther
Carpenter, William F. Dill, Frank Dellar, William Darby, Joseph
Desar, Hugo Edier, William F. Failor, John Farrell, Alexander K.
Green, Conrad Herring, Thomas Herring, Reinhold Hoffman, Antone
Imer, Frank Korte, John J. Lodge, Thomas J. Moyan, A. W. H.
Martheus, John Metchley, Frank A. Manus, Thomas H. B. McNeil,
George F. Mosher, William C. Rees, Thomas J. Rice, George Rich-
arter, Andrew Remlinger, Michael Renner, Frederick Speck, William
Saxon, Frederick Soghan, George G. Sabin, Thomas Scannell, William
Vont, William H. Weeks, Stephen H. Weeks, Martin Weiderrecht,
John L. Williams, John Wakemann.
Killed in battle. — Sergeant James F. McGregor; Privates Joseph
Imm, George Kopp, Augustus G. Young.
Died — Anthony Canell, Adam Hugel, Joseph Post, Samuel W.
Stephenson, Charles Van Way, Simon Week.
Thomas Daniels, Edward Chatlin, Joseph Livesley, James H.
Mahon, Adam Roberts.
Discharged — First Sergeants James H. Cocknower, George F.
Marshall, James W. Moyan; Corporals Hume Wallace, William Haw-
kins, James Johnson, Giles D. Richards; Privates John Birmbaum,
John C. Bender, Christopher C. Cones, Albert Drips, Charles DeLeon,
Jacob Gross, Samuel Keller, Henry H. Lanius, Frederick Lancaster,
Charles Mitchell, John E. Rees, John F. Wolfik, Thomas Wolcott,
George W. Weise, William W. Williams, William R. Glisan.
Transferred. — Corporal Liberty H. Jinks; Privates Frederick H.
Alms, William F. Doepke, George W. Lawrence, Levy L. Pritzel,
Killian Strassher, Edwin D. Smith, Nicholas Stumppf, Edward Ulm.
On muster-in but not on muster-out roll. — Privates, Levi L. O'Brien,
Jacob Speck.
' COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Samuel C. Erwin.
Captain William E. Shenden.
First Lieutenant John F. Hoy.
First Lieutenant James M. Donovan.
First Lieutenant James F. Graham.
First Lieutenant Frank S. Schieffer.
Second Lieutenant George W. Morris.
Second Lieutenant Henry C. Choate.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Abram R. Lemnion.
Sergeant James Lawler.
Sergeant William Fisher.
Sergeant Joseph Turley.
Sergeant William Lieke.
Corporal Pulaski W. Fuller.
Corporal Alex. Rigler.
Corporal Peter Ma'ois.
Corporal George Hewson.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Ade, George W. Adams, Israel Arnold, George W. Bowen,
Christopher C. Bowen, Anthony W. Bowen, John Benedick, Miles
Blake, Reuben D. Burgess, Henry A. Brown, Mannie D. Brown,
James Carr, Patrick Corcoran, Eugene Diserms, Andrew Deilman,
Charles Eckhart, Adam Emmert, George W. Fisher, John Fisher,
Adam Hess, John Hoban, John G. Jager, John Kincella, Wilbarforce
Knott, John Kauflin, Joseph Longanback, Jofin E. Long, Abiel Lea-
ver, James H. Lyons, Richard Lambert, Andrew Miser, Robert Porter,
John P. Robenstein, Benjamin F. Snell, John H. Simmons, John B.
Sampson, Joseph Sommers, Samuel Schroder, William Schroder, Oli-
ver Saffin, George T. Seeley, John C. Spiedel, Abram A. Truesdale,
Horatio Tucker, Enoch West; Robert Wise, William Wise, William
Betts, Valentine Cummings, John Climer, Jasper Graham, Charles Ire-
land, John Jounghaus, Henry Morgan, Hugh O'Donnell, John O'Neil,
Joseph O'Conner, John Quinn, Albert S. Ritchie, Henry Stanley, Dan-
iel Wilguss.
Killed in Battle. — Privates Robert Davis, Charles Davis, Charles
Deekmyer, Simeon Shattuck, Michael Schaub, Robert E. Truxworth.
Died. — Corporal Benjamin F. Terry, Privates Edward H. Hall, Aga-
thon Otto.
Discharged. — Sergeant Earl W. Stimson, Corporals Charles Wil-
liams, Robert Howden, Privates Charles H. Baldwin, Oliver Chamber-
lain, John E. Craig, Herman Fastrom, Joseph L. Ferdon, Matthew
Grogan, Thomas Greenwood, Carl Korner, Samuel J. Lawrence, Sam-
uel Pierson, Nicholas Rudolph, Joseph Rebel, Samuel Skelton, John
Harrison, Matthew Smith, James L. Terry, Ulrich Wahrenburger,
Benjamin V. Williams.
Transferred. — Sergeants Joseph L. Antram, Leonard Boice, James
F. Graham, Corporal Peter H. Britt, Privates Nelson A. Britt, George
Benn, John HoUister, Peter Kreps, Archibald Mangan, Fairfax W.
Nelson, Sherwin S. Perkins, Henry B. Stites.
On muster-in but not muster-out roll. — Privates James H. Clymer,
Matthew Gwinn, Junius E. Long, Junius H. Lyons.
COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Charles H. Brutton.
Captain Justin M. Thatcher.
First Lieutenant Charles H. Herron.
First Lieutenant James F. Irwin.
First Lieutenant Jesse C. La Bille.
Second Lieutenant Frank S. Schaeffer.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant William H. Read.
Sergeant Otto Brewer.
Sergeant Wilham E. Jackson.
Sergeant John A. Seigle.
Sergeant John E. Hewite.
Corporal John B. Miller.
Corporal Edward Lawrence.
Corporal August Nearman.
Corporal William R. Wood.
Corporal Frederick Linnubrink.
Corporal Milton Lunbaeh.
Corporal James Wood.
Corporal Thomas Manning.
Musician Joseph Lefeber.
Teamster John McClung.
■ PRIVATES,
Harry Blake, Edward Beady, John Battell, Lewis Desbordes, David
Downey, Henry Eons, Michael Enright, James R. Irwin, Frederick
Finer, George Hoffman, Bernard Klotte, William Keisemeier, Ernst
Lawrence, John Lawrence, Henry Leonard, John Linciman, Peter
Lagaly, Herman Linnis, Franklin Lefeber, James Lefeber, Au-
gustin Martin, Milton McCuUy, Perry McAdams, Joseph T. Nep-
per, Seth G. Perkins, Jonathan Reams, Joseph Ruff, Henry Rohl-
man, Gustave Slube. Levi Sommers, Henry Smith, Anthony Schaeffer,
Frederick Terpborn, Clement Thusing, Stuart Terwilliger, Daniel
Toomire, William Witte, Peter West, William Wolf, Charles Young,
James Yost, William Young, Michael Carrigan, William Gloeb, Louis
Kolp, Michael Miller, William Overund, George W. Plummer, Irvina
Rollins, John R. Ramsey, Larkin Smith, David J.' Decamp, Jesse C.
La Bille, Daniel A. Griffin, Vere W. Royse, John R. Faukeberger,
Edward P. Perkins, Jacob Crites, Casper N. Gunther, George Hearth,
Thomas Noble, Henry Nearman, Henry Peters, Charles Rocap,
George W. M. Vandegrift.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Killed in Battle.— Privates Thomas Brown, James H. Draus, Lewis
Evers, Joseph Hooth, Joseph Toomire.
Died. — Privates Christopher Ark, William Brocksmith, Ed^vin Craw-
ford,' Gottfried Heileman, Andrew Overthal, John Q. Root, Henry
Willias.
Under-cooks (African).— Carter Hughes, William Pope.
Transferred. — First Sergeants William E. Sheridan, Albert G. Wil-
liams ; Corporal Fredeack Hipp ; Privates Joseph Arumar Ambruster,
Frank Butsch, Joseph Furst, Charles Hottendorf, Thomas Neald,
John Ruff, William Simpson, Toby Sayler, Jacob Weaver.
On muster-in, but not on muster-out roll. — James H. Deans, Herman
Placke, Seth G. Perkins, George Stube, Robert Wood.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain A. O. Russell.
Captain William S. Getty.
First I^ieutenant Jules J. Montaginer.
First Lieutenant Henry C. Choate.
First Lieutenant George W. Cormany.
Second Lieutenant James F. Irwin,
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Abraham J. Price.
Sergeant John W. Easley.
Sergeant Herbert Sullivan.
Sergeant Henry F. Howe.
Sergeant John Peer.
Corporal Dewitt C. Hayes.
Corporal Charles S. Dunn.
Corporal Harry Simmons,
Corporal Charles A. Hucker.
Corporal John Sullivan.
Corporal Thomas Burnett.
Corporal William Lotze.
Corporal George W. Miller.
Drummer Jacob Brauns.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Burkhardt, Peter Balser, Walter Baldwin, Hainer Bradburj',
William Bodie, Charles Boutwell, Thomas Cranwell, William E. Col-
lins, Joshua Cain, Andrew M. Dunn, Daniel A, Eagan, Atlas B.
Fisher, Horace Fisher, Andy Fenhoff, John S. Gilson, William Ganard,
Peter Hofsase, Nicholas Kehr, Andrew Keller, John H. Lookam,
Rudolph iWackzum, Robert C. Nelson, William C. Perkins, Albert G.
Parent, Benjamin Post, John Richards, George Rhynearson, George
W. Knob, William B. Rowe, Isaac H. Sturgis, William H, Sturgis,
Anson W. Schenck, William F. Sullivan, John R. Sullivan, William H.
Servise, John Singer, James A. Taylor, James H. Willis, Peter
Walton, Henry Zwibrick, Alexander Barclay. Henry Berrutter, Ebon
R. R. Biles, H. W. H. Dickman, Thomas Fennell, James J. Geldea,
Isaac Huff, William Morrington, Charles McDoughtin, Robert Nolan,
Michael P. Way.
Under-cooks (African). — ^John Jennings. George Washington.
Killed in battle. — Private John Huddleston.
Died. — First Sergeant George W. Ridenour, Sergeant William H.
Loyd, Corporal Oliver P. Rockenfield, Privates Jeremiah A. Colwell,
Samuel P. Stallcup, Robert Taulman.
Discharged. — Sergeant Louis Schram ; Corporals William A. Clark,
Walter Lawrence, Julius C. Schenck ; Privates Alfred Burnett, Joseph
Biggers, Augustus Clements, William H. Eberle, William J. Graham.
Gottlie Heirtsbruner, Charles Hebel, William R. Joyce, Joseph
Metzler, Ambrose A. Philips, Alexander Schenk, August Schraitman,
William H. Sloan, James J, Wagner, Joseph McMurmes.
Transferred. — First Lieutenant James F. Irwin, Privates Gustave
Binder, Silas S. Dunn, John Fenhoff, William R. Goodnough,
Frederick Haha, Joseph Katching, Joseph Long, Maley Lemings,
Frank Parsnip, Milton Parvin, Michael G. Ryan.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Henry H. Tinker.
First Lieutenant John W. Morgan.
First Lieutenant William E. Sheridan.
First Lieutenant Joseph L. Antram.
First Lieutenunt James F. Meline.
Second Lieutenant Solomon Bidwell.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Benjamin F, Hopkins.
Sergeant Joseph H. McClintock.
Sergeant Charles A. Haller.
Sergeant Joseph S. Wehrle.
Sergeant Joseph Gang.
Corporal Albert Speece.
Corporal Benjamin D. Hall.
Corporal Joseph R. Northcraft.
Corporal Frank P. Winstell.
Corporal Frank D. Wentworth.
Corporal John A. Bonner.
Corporal Henry Shaffer.
Bugler William Schmitt.
Musician John F, Dressel.
Wagoner George Harrison.
Corporal Ashmad Charles.
PRIVATES.
Thomas Armstrong, James F. Attee, William E. Allen, John Cro-
nin, Joseph O. Clark, Joseph Chloe, John W. Douglass, Henry Du-
vall, William C. Ellis, August Friday, Henry Frazier, Henry Frillman,
George Greenfield, Lewis Hahn, Herman Hinkley, John F. Hanley,
Hannibal M. Hopkins, Thomas Kennedy, Henry Keith, Patrick
Logue, Robert Menah, Daniel McGillicudy, John Meier, Absalom
Maxwell, Joseph Nevill, James O'Malley, Cannville Peyrot, Hiram C.
Page, Stephen Ross, Joseph Kohler, Charles Schuster, Killian Stros-
ser, Richard Thomson, James B. Willets, George W. Whippy,. George
Whistler, Robert Andrews, William Carrington, Henry Cahlenburg,
John Maley, John D. Newman, Nicholas Stumpf, Antonia Smith,
Henry C. Thatcher, John Wilson.
Killed in Battle. — Privates, Valentine Merdian, Charles Waltermut.
Missing in Action. — Michael Munly.
Died. — Privates, John Christ, Henry Rusher, Martin Seebaur, Ben-
jamin Worrell.
Discharged. — Sergeant William H. Pierce, John Mitter, Samuel
Walker, William A, Ream. Joseph Sandheiger, Levi Thompson, Levi
H. Banker, John J. Bozle, William Boingard, Deloraine Brown, Eugene
Brown, Bryan C. Eager, John M. Gay, Lawrence Gay, Max Hen-
dricks, John Hollister, John G. King, Joseph Legrand, Owen Mur-
phy, Levi L. Pritzel, John Riley, David Singer, Andrew Sullivan, Ed-
ward Ulm, Anthony Walsh. .
Transferred — Privates, Joseph Hahn, Samuel Lawrence, Maley Lem-
ing, Ferdinand Shvenpedder. Edward M. Shoemaker.
On muster in, not on muster out roll. — Privates, W. A. Bouregard,
Levi H. Barchus, Robert Davis, Lawrence Guise, George Hoffman,
Arthur Inier, John Jager, George Willason, John O'Neil, Joseph
Reilly, Avoni Rollins, William H. H. Stout, Henry WiUiams, Constan-
tine Zimmerman.
COMPANY I.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain James Bense.
Captain Benjamin F. West.
First Lieutenant Richard Southgate.
First Lieutenant George T. Lewis.
Second Lieutenant Walter Lawrence.
Second Lieutenant Josiah W. Stanker.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS, - .
First Sergeant William S. Woolverton.
Sergeant John Hanley.
Sergeant Ferdinand McDonough.
Corporal William Langenheim.
Corporal William Crawford.
Corporal Charles Fahlbush.
Corporal Richard Garwood.
Corporal Henry Harmeyer.
Corporal Frederick Larkcom.
Musician Edward Frike.
Teamster Frederick Shoenck.
PRIV,.\TES.
Otto Anner, Newton Burknell, Henry Buddenbaum, Frank Brahni,
George Bruner, Adolph Bruner, Edward P. Catlin, Benjamin Clark, Jo-
seph Drehr, Antone Frave, Joseph Gutzweiler, Edwin Green, August
Grass, Adolph Hof, Jacob Hauser, Gottlieb Heller^ James V. Hirlez,
David Hummel, Roland O.Jones, WiUiam Jurgans, Dennis H. Kenedy,
Christopher Kohli, John C. Lynch, Jacob Liese, Jacob Landis, Eli
Miller, Hiram Mosier, William L. May, John McGlone, James Mar-
tin, August Nischan, Timothy Ryan, John L. Rea, Matthias Seibert,
Christopher Schweitzer, William C. Webber, Sylvester Webber, Wil-
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
99
Ham Yager, John Zimmerman. Under-cook (African) George Wash-
ington. Peter Bruner, Frederick Beck, John Biickhart. Michael Con-
nell, Samuel Erumiger, Robert Fenley, William Geisel, John Little,
Jacob Litzel, Thomas Marshall, John Oysterbag, Robert H. Pence,
Michael S. Witmer, Meritz Zink.
Killed in Battle.— Privates Daniel E. McCarty, Heinrich Nortman,
Samuel Pulver, Jacob Rappellee, Frederick Springmeyer, Gasquire
Yehle.
Missing in Action. — Privates James Carson, William Maygaffoy-
gan.
Died.— Privates Ma.x Essinger, Jacob Hillfecker, William Wenzel,
Discharged. — Privates George T. Lewis, Wesley B. McClane,
Henry C. Choate, Henry Gibson, George S. La Rue, Thomas Long,
Edward Roderija, John Williams, Frederick Bender, Thomas Cart-
wright, Frederick Elerman, William Fenistall, Frank Gerhardt, Ed-
ward Hof, Otto Hof, Frederick Heckert, John Jackson, John Muhler,
John Storker, Orlando M. Smith, William T. Swift, William Z. Thor-
burn, James Wilson.
On muster in, not on muster out roll. — Privates, Cornelius Collins,
John Brauns, William Lyons, Joseph Fetz, Linck Morris.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Charles M. Clark.
Captain James M. Donovan.
First Lieutenant August B. D. Merback.
First Lieutenant Charles C. Beck.
Second Lieutenant Justin M. Thatcher.
Second Lieutenant Edward F. Getlier.
Second Lieutenant Josiah W. Stanker.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant George B. Nicholson.
Sergeant Jethro F. Hill.
■ Sergeant William S. Squires.
Sergeant William Gaines.
Corporal Albert Kimble.
Corporal Joseph H. Cohagan.
Corporal Nehemiah V. Pennington.
Musician Lewis Halt.
PRIVATES.
Christopher Albert, George W. Bowlby, John H. Bowlby, John A.
Barth, Louis C. Brehm, George Buskirk, Henry Beckman, Robert S.
Culbertson, Francis I. CuUom, Charles Cunningham, Henry Elsing,
Frederick Eggerman, Constantine Fecker, William Goodwin, Joseph
Grau, John Hailing, Isaac B. Hart, Daniel Henria? Peter Hoffman, Ja-
cob Hoffnagle, Lorenz Huber, John A. Roo, August Kreyenhagen,
Jphn C. Leistner, William A. Lohu, Theodore B. McDonald, Frank
Meier, Pedro Montaldo, John Moorhouse, Theodore Ostman, Thomas
Parker, Reason Regin, Clark C. Saunders, Henry E. SchoUe, John
Leitz, Henry Shelton, George W. G. Shipman, Henry Shockman,
Joshua Tomson, Samuel Walker, Charles Warner, Frederick Wehking
George W. Yeager, Gerhard Jumweilde, Frank Christman, Clements
Dulle, Wesley W. Long, Charles Weideman, George K. Wilder.
Killed in Battle. — Sergeants Thomas G. Drake, John H. Oshng ;
Corporal Henry F. Fauk ; Privates Louis F. Fautz, Theodore Wessel-
man.
Died. — Corporals Henry G. Kreyenhagen, Joseph Martin ; Privates
Henry L. Ford, Frank Guhra, George Kelsch, David Klein, Jacob
Nikel, Alexander Schidtman, Rairaond Welling.
Discharged. — First Sergeant James F. Meline ; Sergeant H. E. W.
Backus, Henry N. Conden ; Corporals James F. Bargulow, Charles
Donnelly. Privates George Andrews, Theodore Austin, Frank Crests,
David D. Davis, Henry C. Davis, Henry Gauckstadt, Joseph Haddock,
Christopher H. Kuhn, Jefferson McClure, William A. Roebuck, Mor-
timer Singer, James F. Smith, Freeman C. Tryon, Harrison' Waltz,
Thomas S. Witherell.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Henry Gee, Sergeant WiUiam Paper-
brook, Musicianjohn H. Buchtel, Privates John M. Darke, Charies E.
Lewis, Alexander Love, William McBride, Andrew Murphy.
On muster in, but not on muster out roll. — Privates Thomas Braun,
Frederick A. Bemis, John J. Cordry, William Camp, Carneal Conger,
Henry C. Fowler, Stephen Grove, Joseph L. Gibson, Charles Heine,
Thomas Johnson, F. H. Lancaster, Frederick Martin, Peter Molloy,
John Rut, Frank Ross, Luke Rapplee, James W. Roe, Thomas F.
Ricker, Francis Sutchs, Edwin Thomas, Diedrick Evers, John Fagru,
Barnard Klenberg, William Lamont, Frederick Madeke, George Mc-
Laughlin, Conrad Milcher, Albert Malloy, Michael Nolan, Jacob Schaff-
ner, Julius Winer, Engelhart Wolfer, Jacob Weiber, Frederick Krause,
Louis Stahl, Martin Erhardt.
Transferred. — Sergeant Newton McKee, Corporal George B. Crist,
Privates Frederick Bottles, Victor Liest, Jacob Mattern, Darius Cros-
line, Rinhard Crist, Samuel Doatwart, Sandy Smith (under-cook, Af-
rican).
NINTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Upon receipt of the thrilling news of the fall of Sum-
ter, the Germans of Cincinnati promptly held a meeting
at Turner hall, which was addressed by Judge Stallo,
Colonel R. L. McCook, and other prominent citizens.
The issue of this gathering was the raising of a German
regiment, for which two hundred men enrolled at once,
and within three days fifteen hundred were offered.
The Ninth was mustered for three months April 2 2d, at
Camp Harrison, and moved to Camp Dennison May
1 8th, where it was soon after mustered in for the long
term, the first three years' regiment from the State, in
consideration of which the Columbus ladies sent it a
superb bass drum. It numbered one thousand and
thirty-five officers and men, with a band of twenty-four.
On the twentieth of June it took the field in West-
ern Virginia, made a rapid march from Webster to
PhiHppi, fifteen miles in three hours, and thence to
Buckhannon, meeting the enemy at Little Fork bridge,
but not in force. The Ninth was engaged at Rich
Mountain directly after, and sustained a small loss.
From the advance to Cheat Mountain it was ordered
back to Beverly, and thence to New Creek, on the Po-
tomac, arriving July 27th. Uncommonly severe guard
duty awaited it here and continued about a month,
when the regiment moved to the interior and was as-
signed to the Second brigade. September 7th the Ninth
was engaged near Carnifex Ferry, losing two killed and
eight wounded. For two months and half it was en-
camped on New river, having frequent skirmishes with
the enemy, in which a few men were lost. Ordered west,
it left "Camp Anderson" November 24th, and arrived at
Louisville December 2d, going from there to Lebanon,
where it was assigned to the Third brigade. First division,
Army of the Ohio. January i, 1862, the division moved
on Columbia, and from there to meet ZoUicoffer. The
Ninth was in the action at Mill Springs, and made the
decisive charge of the day. Upon the return to Louis-
ville in February, the Union ladies of the city presented
it, and three other regiments, each with a stand of colors,
for their bravery in this battle. The regiment was then
transported by water to Nashville, reaching it March 2d,
and leaving a fortnight after for Pittsburgh Landing,
where it arrived too late to join in the battle. It was in
the advance on Corinth, and for some way in the pursuit
beyond; but was marched to Tuscumbia, Alabama, June
2 2d. While in camp there the Ninth received an ele-
gant regimental flag, presented by the city of Cincinnati.
July 27th it moved toward Decherd, Tennessee, and on
this march its colonel, Robert L. Cook, commanding the
brigade, fell ill, and riding in an ambulance ahead of the
column, was overtaken and cruelly murdered by gue-
rillas. From Decherd the regiment moved with the
Army of the Ohio in its toilsome and painful retreat to
Louisville, which was reached September 27th. October
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
3d it was marched out toward Perryville, and was in ac-
tion, with small loss, near the close of the battle on the
8th. After pursuing Bragg to Crab Orchard, it was
posted at South Tunnel, to clean out the tunnel and
re-open the railway from Louisville to Nashville. This
was done by hard, energetic work, between November 8th
and 26th. The next guard duty was at Pilot Knob, and
during the battle of Murfreesborough it guarded fords on
the Cumberland. January 14th to March 6, 1863, the
Ninth was on duty about Nashville, scouting and recon-
noitering, when it was ordered to Triune and engaged
in drilling, building fortifications, etc. It was here
equipped with Springfield rifles, and also welcomed cordi-
ally a new regimental band. Marched again June 24th,
through heavy rains, for seventeen days, to TuUahoma,
and thence over Lookout Mountain, reaching McLemore's
cove September loth. On the 17th it moved toward the
battle-field of Chickamauga, marching all night through
lanes of burning fences, and was in the thick of the fight
the next day. It recaptured a lost battery, aided in the
repulse of Longstreet, and on the second day took part
in the famous bayonet charge of Van Dervour's brigade.
In the battle the Ninth sustained one-third of the entire
loss of its brigade, losing eleven officers and two hundred
and thirty-seven men, almost exactly half of its whole
number in action. It then suffered with the rest of the
army for a season at Chattanooga. When General
Thomas took command, the regiment entered the Sec-
ond brigade. Third division. Army of the Cumberland.
It was in the assault on Mission Ridge, and, with one
other regiment repulsed, a charge by a greatly superior
force. December 30th it escorted a battery and train to
Calhoun; and, February 25, 1864, took part in a sharp
skirmish at Crow's Valley. In March and April it was
encamped at Ringgold, and May 5th it started on the
Atlanta campaign. It was in the battle of Resaca May
15th, moving thence to the Etowah river, where it re-
mained on active duty until its terra expired. May 27th.
Up to the last moment it stood within range of the ene-
my's guns, and was finally relieved by General Thomas in
person from the outer picket line. Their fellow-soldiers
lined the road and gave it enthusiastic cheers by way of fare-
well. It was received with great enthusiam at Cincinnati,
and mustered out at Camp Dennison June 7, 1864. The
attachment of the members of this regiment to its memor-
ies and to each other is so great that they hold reunions
every Sunday, at some convenient place in the city, where
they fight their battles o'er again.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel Robert L. McCook.
Colonel Gustave Kammerling.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Sandeshoff.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Joseph.
Lieutenant Colonel Fritz Schweder.
Major August Willich.
Major Bartholemevv Benzswig.
Major Charles E. Boyle.
Major Conrad Sottheim.
Assistant Surgeon Rudolph Werth.
Assistant Surgeon Adam M. Beers.
Assistant Surgeon James Davenport.
Adjutant George H. Harris.
Adjutant Herman Ponitz.
Quartermaster Joseph Graeff.
Chaplain William Stacugel.
Chaplain Joseph A. Fuchshuber.
Sergeant-Major Robert Gronan.
Commissary Sergeant Samuel Landaner.
Quartermaster Sergeant Gustave Brockhous.
Hospital Steward Louis Zahn.
Principal Musician Dominie Emrninger.
Principal Musician Richard Schwenger.
Discharged. — Hospital Steward William Schmidt, Principal Musi-
cian Guenther Leidenstrucker, Quartermaster Sergeant Emanuel
Rodde, musicians, Leopold Praeger, Ernst F, Blum, Albin Studer,
Richard Meinhardt, Anson Hofichser, Joseph Kilian, Louis Strebel,
Charles Vogt, John Cochler, George Wolf, Charles Hammel, Theodore
Niemann, Louis Dorst, Ernst Meinhardt, .Adolph Schenck, Anson
Bigler,
Quartermaster Sergeant Frederick Busse, Christopher Schendler.
Transferred. — Sergeant-Major Raymond Hermann.
Regimental band. — Principal Musician Richard Sclrvvenzer; musicians,
Jacob Bauer, John Dietrich, Charles Harvy, Theodore Herth, Charles
Jutzi, Michael Koch, John Koch, Lorenz Mages, Michael Meiser,
Leopold Praeger, Andrew Reusing, Herman Weber, Otto Zink, Wil-
liam Hawk.
COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Joseph Charles B. Gentsch.
First Lieutenant Louis Henser.
First Lieutenant Adam Schuhmacher.
Second Lieutenant Gustavus Tafel.
Second Lieutenant Herman Pomitz.
NON-COMMISSIOND OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Louis Mark.
Sergeant Charles Teichmann.
Sergeant Adolph Mueller.
Corporal August Griess.
Wagoner William Wittinger.
PRIVATES.
Charles Albrecht, Louis Ambrecht, George Ambsler, Hermann Bey-
land, Julius Bertsch, Albert Booklet, Franz Brawninger, Albert Franke,
Henry Glyckherr, Henry Gnucklack, Joseph Goessler, John G.
Himmber, Peter Hahn, Frederick Heyer, Franz Hohendorf, Frederick
Handel, Joseph Heck, Otto Hack, Philip Hartmann, Theodore Jacker,
Louis Killer, Charles Klinthworth, Adam Klingel, Ernst Koegal, John
Loge, Adolph Luethy, August Mathies, William Meyer, Charles Mad-
dler, Louis Atting, George Popp, Uriah Panzer, Ferdinand Pfister,
Frederick Kumpf, Henry Rieger, Joseph Ruettinger, George Seihrt,
Philip Seibert, Gustavus Schultz, Theodore Schatgle, John Schmidt,
Edward Stremmel, Frederick Wendel.
Privates, Albert Ahlers, Rudolph Burgmann, Frank Daum, Otto
Schultz, Andrew Schmidt, William Wachs.
Joined since organization of company. — Sergeant August Ernst,
Signer; Corporals Herman Waldenmayer, Thomas Lorenz Mages;
paivates, Emil Gerhardt, Martin Koch, Louis Lissett, Charles Schatt-
gen, Adolph Wagoner.
Killed in battle. — Sergeant William Drewey; Corporals Hugo Tafel,
Godfrey Krichfuss; Privates August Reyland, Philip Herzog, William
Dake, Ferdinand Hildebrand, Sadislaw Settler.
Died. — First Sergeant Frederick Sturbe, Corporal Ferdinand Borz;
privates, George Wittman, Ferdinand Ludwig, Peter Schraffenbeger,
Philip Fueller,
Discharged. — Sergeants, Adam Schumacher, Gustavus Tafel, Her-
mann Poenitz, Charles Feltan; Corporals Nicholas Peters, Henry
Baer; musician, Michael Koch; Privates Charles Berkheimer, Gustavus
Baner, Michael Beyer, Gustave Beigmann, Hermann Franke, Henry
Hubert, Ma.\ Hupfauf, Louis Hartleb, Adam Hermansderfer, Fred-
erick Kuchne, Frederick Mueller, Louis Neubacher, Franz Pfeffet,
George Pfaffinger, John Raepple, Philip Riehl, George Roehrig, Joseph
Schmitz.
Prisoners of War. — Sergeant Ernst Riedel; Private Ernst Schultz.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Robert Gronan; Sergeant Herman
Reinstanz, Corporal Peter Becker, Musician Richard Schwenzer; Fifer,
Richard Meinhardt; Drummer Frederick Poschner; Privates Adolph
Begmann, Charles Haebbe, Bernhard Grieschop.
On muster-in but not on muster-out roll, — Charles Vadler.
•HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OIHO.
COMPANY p.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain I'erdinand Mueller.
First Lieutenant Jacob Mueller.
First Lieutenant Nicholas Willich.
First Lieutenant Frederick Bertsch.
Second Lieutenant Henry Blandowski.
Second Lieutenant Theodore Rauck.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Frederick Maerthesheimer.
Sergeant George F. Trautner.
Sergeant John Earth.
Sergeant Casper Decker. -
Sergeant Charles Schutz.
Corporal John Schmidt.
Corporal Jacob Boehler.
Corporal Henry Schenk.
Corporal Augustus Kiefe.
Corporal Albin Arand.
Musician Charles Jutze.
Wagoner John Roos.
PRIVATES.
Jacob Baron, Clemens Breitenbach, Lewis Buchtman, Julius Burk-
hardt, Arthur Dreifus, Lewis Ehrlich, John Engel, John Engelhardt,
Frederick Freers, Lewis Freers, Michael Gierten, Augustus Genther,
Maurice Emery, Gotleib Hauser, Frederick Heine, Otis Howard, Jost
Hoesh, Frederick Huminan, Henry Jend, August Jungfelass, Theodore
Klunke, Anton Kutzleb, John Kraes, Charles Macule, George Maeir,
William May, John Orion, Joseph Piesche, George Rohland, John
Ruop, John Schaefer, Thomas Schaefer, Henry Schaeringhaus, George
Scheer, Edward Scheneser, Jacob Schlosser, Peter Schmiegel, John
Schwarz, Henry Schwessinger, Ferdinand C. Schneeman, Joseph
Schweler, Augustus Stoeckle, George Tenn, Adolph Thedbold, Henry
Wahle, Nicholas Wedesty, George Wolpold, John Wuesthop, Charles
Zahn.
Privates Gustavus Buehl, Moritz Gross, Jacob Maurer.
Killed in battle.— Corporals Henry Miller, Henry Wight; Privates
Jacob Bauer, Joseph Hipp, Andrew Keller, Frederick Lecker, Adam
Laufer.
Died. — First Sergeant Adolph Spaeth; Corporals Eugene Huser,
Charles Pacher; Privates Conrad Hosbach, Casper Mueller, Francis
Schapf, Henry J. Theobold, John Troester, Joseph Floise.
Discharged. — First Sergeant Theodore Bauck; Wagoner Philip
Maenninger; Privates John Bauer, Lewis Benz, Lewis Bluttermann,
John Boss, Philip Bottler, John Deiters, Emanuel Honeck, Robert
Kaulig, John Kurhule, George Lauber, Michael Bracker, Julius Lessig,
Peter Maithic, Charles Rusckert, Joseph Scherer, Francis Schmidt,
Casper Semmber, John Wirzbricker, Conrad Ulmer, Melchior Wiget,
Benedict Wiesz, Christopher Fleddermann, Jacob Winzler.
Transferred. — Gustave Brockhause.
Prisoner of War. — ^John Pfeifer.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Henry Broderson.
Captain William Straengel.
Captain Morris Pohlman.
First Lieutenant George H. Harris.
First Lieutenant Henry Liedke.
First Lieutenant Joseph Haider.
First Lieutenant Henry Spaeth.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Charles Abel.
Sergeant George Ess.
Sergeant William Brinkman.
Sergeant Matthias Huett.
Sergeant Joseph Mueller.
Corporal Francis Reinfurt.
Corporal Henry Elever.
Corporal Peter Batz.
Corporal Jacob Schweitzer.
Corporal Charles N. Nelson.
PRIVATES.
Leoiiard Banen, Christopher Bleiler, Leopold Busam, Coustantine
Boshardt, August Bunsch, John Bmemmelkamp, George Brueker,
Jacob Bihl, Albert Denerlich, Martin Eckerle, Henry Gausman, Louis
Guenther, John Goetz, August Grothe, William Gerhardt, Phillipp
Guerteth, Louis Gorman, Herman Gerhardt, George Hyde, Martin
Hankes, Stephen Huber, Phillip Holzmann, Frederick Hafner, Wil-
liam Hayne, Charles Hoffner, Henry Krauger, Henry Krite, William
Keiterborn, Joseph Kissiwelter, August Kraeger, Frank Kaiser, Michael
Lorenz, Nathan Loewenstein, Julius Lentz, Christian Mueller, Peter
Miller, John Mueller, Louis Mayer, Matthias Meister, Henry Remmin-
ger, Frederick Rapp, William Stettleberg, Nicholas Schneider, George
Schneider, Carl Steiner, Christian Lickemeyer, Lorenz Spaeth, Anton
Schmidt, Christian Thaussen, Herman Upsing, Phillipp Ulrich, Stanis-
laus, VoUmen, Herman Wiltenberg, Jacob Wenz, Michael Zier, John
Steek, William Ott, Nicholas Birkman.
Killed in Battle. — Fred Waltenspeil, William Kaiser.
Missing in Action. — Fred Frost, Charles Groespel.
Died. — Corporal Herdia Kilian; Privates Frederick Gimble, Frede-
rick Shafer, William Hartig, John Rosselit, Sebastian Wipfler, Jacob
Fry.
Discharged. — First Sergeant George Schneider; Sergeant Anton
Miller; Privates Henry Byersderfer, Clemens Bonke, Frederick Buse,
Bernhardt Bruggemaur, Xavier Fahrubel, Isaac Hessbirg, Joseph Hill,
Charles Hoerst, Magnus Heyl, Adolph Jost, Jean Joab, Frederick
Koeffler, Henry Kramer, Henry Lotz, Theodore Pape, William Poppe,
William Rosenfeld, Charles Schottmueller, John Schulz, Anton Steifes-
ter, Theodore Steiner, Frederick Vail, Louis Witzell.
Transferred. — Sergeants Lewis Groos, Louis Kuster, Louis Zahn, Ed-
lief Thomson, Samuel Lundaner, Frederick Bupe, Frederick Dister,
Charles Stalder.
On muster-in but not on'muster-out roll. — John Goob.
COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Frederick Schroeder.
Captain Gustave F. Kepper.
First Lieutenant Ernst Reubeum.
First Lieutenant Richard Schneider.
Second Lieutenant Daniel Wagoner.
Second Lieutenant Raymond Herman.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Gustave Grims.
Sergeant August Witte.
Sergeant William Minning.
Sergeant Casper Weger.
Corporal Adolph Gumelman.
Corporal Ferdinand Zimmerer.
Corporal Phillipp Arnold.
Corporal Gotlieb Strohm.
Wagoner Louis Nordmann.
PRIVATES.
Charles Abraham, Peter Blinn, George Borntrager, Louis Bosch,
Jacob Buegler, Thomas Burger, Henry Cordes, Bernhardt Dorn, John
Eberhardt, Martin Eberhardt, Martin Path, Henry Faubel, Rudolph
Frischkueht, Henry Frederich, William Galle, Henry Gerding, James
Gerthot, Peter Guerther, Henry Hahn, Jacob Hermann, Peter Hugger,
Herman J ohanning, Michael Kosh, Andrew Langeubahn, Hermann C.
W. Suelbert, Francis Massner, Charles Mandell, Bartholomew Malt,
Frederick Meyer, Henry Meyer, William Meyer, Henry Minning, Wil-
liam Nenn, Louis Roesler, George Roesoh, Adam Reising, Louis Sand-
man, Adam Sandrack, John Sauser, Herman Schaf, Hugo Schassner,
Matthew Schleuker, Herman Schmidt, Christian Schmidt, Michaei
Schranck, Charles Schnebel, Jabob Schwarztrauber, Charles Seeger,
William Stagg, William Steinkamp, Christian Strademeyer, Rudolph
Strademeyer, Francis Studer, Frederick Turbez, Christian Vaneda
Charles Wirming, Jacob Betzold, George Koch, John Kierz, Henry
Weyminger, Alexander Pflueger, Joseph Walton.
Killed in Battle. —Corporal Louis Fohmann; Privates Henry Speller-
berg, August Waldenspiel, Charles Funke, Frederick Conrade, Anthony
Mueller, Ernst Kuechler.
Prisoner of War. — Private John Blessing.
Died. — Corporal Christian Luchrmann; Privates Gustave Begemann,
August Engelebrecht, Henry Large, John Luchbrechler.
Discharged. — First Sergeant Charles Dolezrich; Sergeant August
Hampe; Privates John Beck, August Begemann, Jerome Helreigel, Wil-
liam Knichhaus, Joseph Ligner, Gebhardt Meyer, Herman Otten,
William Voesti, Bernhardt Weikerte, Henry Winter, William Zerer,
Henry Spaeth.
Transferred.— Privates Valentine Fleitz, Dominie Einminger.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.'
COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Bartholomew Benz.
Captain George H. Harries.
First Lieutenant Gustavus F, Nepper.
First Lieutenant Martin Bruner.
Second Lieutenant Frederick Steimer.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant George H. Lippert.
Sergeant Jolin Eigner.
Sergeant Frederick Saeger.
Sergeant Henry S. Scheuer.
Sergeant J olin Kochler.
Corporal Jolm Mueller, No. i.
Corporal Frank M. Smith.
Corporal George S. Starm.
Corporal John Schular.
Corporal Louis Mossman.
Corporal Harry E. Bayer.
Corpor.al Henry Feieatag.
Wagoner August Broadeaberger.
PRIVATES.
Henry Behrens, Balthasar Baeche, Theodore Basch, Richard Baes-
chia'', Frederick Biedeker, Martin Baabender, Dietrich Dorst, Louis
Eckelman, Diebold Eschenbrauer, Simon Ernst, John Fauke, Frederick
Feirp, Charles Fortacbacher, George Fisher, Adam Fath, James G.
Froever, Frederick Hoffman, Joseph H. Hagelai, John Hoeltzer, John
Houck, Casper Keller, Christian Laedeke, Henry Mowbrey, Andrew-
Mayer, John Mueller, No. 2, Frank Natsch, George Obermeyer, James
Papaner, George Reiger, Christian Rapp, Frank Rarke, George Reip-
ler, John Rost, Joseph Rein, Jacob Straab. William Schalmeyer, Jacob
Seebach, William Schraitzer, John Sehatte, ■ Frank Steimer, Frank
Schick, lohn Schmidt, Phillipp Sommer, Frank Tobergete, John Trick,
Louis Waltz, Frank Wedericke, Frederick Eberhardt, Sebastian Hen-
rich, Charles Hoffacher, William Hesse, George Kollae, Andrew
Schwartz, Herman Whening.
Killed in Battle. — Corporal John Ruoff ; Privates Fidel Edelman,
Christopher Hornang, Frederick Noeka.
Died. — Corporal Henry Seimers, Martin Dumbacher, George Gaul,
Herman Jarger.
Discharged.— Sergeant Phillip Spangler ; First Sergeant Henry W.
Sanders; Sergeants John Limberger, Frederick Steiner ; Drummer Fred-
erick Blamerthal; Pri^■ates Frederick Bruner, Jacob Arnold, Henry
Barwig, Frederick Gross, Charles Guilharme, Christopher Halbrider,
William E. Hagedon, John Hellwig, Joseph Kirlack, Charles Kelb,
John Keiahardt, Adam Mayer, Frederick Meyers, Henry Pfisterer, Da-
vid Ross, August Scharck.
Prisoners of War. — Privates Leo Wippel, Frederick Walker.
Transferred. — Musician Weber Herman, Charles Benninger, Daniel
Eyser, Joseph Kelderich, Henry J. Kock, Thomas Streiff, Jacob Wed-
erick.
COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Gustav Kammerling.
Captain Louis Henser.
First Lieutenant Herman Luetkenhaus.
Second Lieutenant Alexis Hilbrun.
Second Lieutenant John Baumgartner.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Frank Hinman.
Sergeant Christian Etzell.
Sergeant John B. Hoenemann.
Sergeant George F. Feir.
Corporal Julius Geram.
Corporal Gerhardt Ferber.
Corporal Alovis Maver.
Corporal Joseph Lehman.
Corporal John Prichtel.
Corporal Joseph Becker.
Wagoner Henry Steffens.
PRIVATES.
Henry Arnold, Matthew Altinger, William Appenfenfelder, Christian
Bay, Conrad Dahloff, Frederick Engelay, Charles Fenderonich, John
Gueiither, Frederick Habenicht, William Hunskahl, Henry Hoer, Wil-
liam Kimberly, Conrad Kramer, Charles Messner, Charles May, Julius
Nordhoff, Henry Nickel, Henry Neulman, Henry Rume, Andrew Rohr,
Charles Rothfuss, Phillipp Steuber William Stern, Ernst Straup, Vin-
cent Schott, August Schoenfeld, William Schoenfeld, John SchmuUing,
John Schmidt, Christian Schnell, Henry Sander, Anthony Siebelder,
Lawrence Steuber, Charles Schaefer, Frederick Schroeder, Frank Traw,
Andrew Vollett, Conrad Vassler, William Wahlbrink, Adolph Brew-
erer, John Brachle, Jacob Korii, Charles Merroth, Phillip Mella, Wil-
liam Schroer, Henry L. Weber.
Killed in Battle. — Privates Gottlieb Hirschmann, George Hirsbrun-
ner, Anton Knittell, Frederick Mueller, Herman Schmidt, Frederick
Miefert, Frederick Werth, Christian Gerstaller ; Corporal Charles
Roman.
Died. — Privates Matthew Buehl, Charles Roller, John B. Stieff, John
Wilke.
Discharged. — Sergeants Frederick Oberkline, John Obervahn, Wil-
liam Kiliam ; Privates Jacob Arnold, Nicholas Braun, Charles Berger,
Charles Brill, Prosper Binghard, Christopher Hornickle, Charles Hal-
ler, Paul Jessing, Martin Kern, Charles Kern, Conrad Kauffman,
Henry Karp, Henry Moore, George Mietsch, August Nolte, Edward
Schenkel, Gotlieb Schaffner, Herman Stahl, Casper Rung.
Prisoners of War. — Sergeant V. Hummell, Charles Corp, Charles
Daubenmerkel, Henry Pappenberg, Leonard Hermann ; Corporal Jo-
seph Becker.
Recruits and Prisoners of War. — Privates John B. Baumgartner, An-
drew Dietz, Bernhardt Klineberg, Otto Zink.
Not on Muster Roll. — Private John Trarbauch.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Gustavus Richter.
Captain Adam Schumacker.
First Lieutenant Charles Zahn.
■ First Lieutenant Tlieodore Lammer.
First Lieutenant Alexander Hillbrum.
Second Lieutenant Frederick Oberkline.
Second Lieutenant George Hartung.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Charles Golde.
Sergeant August Gebhardt.
Sergeant Frederick Emmert.
Sergeant Charles Kaschule.
-Corporal Christian Herman.
Corporal Henry Nagel.
Corporal Franz Winter.
Corporal Charles Schronckhart.
Corporal Edward Rapp.
Corporal Herman Schutz.
Corporal Franz Spahn.
PRIVATES.
Adam Wenzel, George Appelman, Ernst Buerkle, Joseph Bleible,
Frederick Cramer, Charles Doolharte, Charles Dutchman, William
Diehlmier, Frank Denkinger, Henry Dirkson, Justus Enter, Louis
Gschwind, Herman Howard, Daniel Hess, Raymond HoU, William
Heiderman, Henry Hinneche, August Kimple, Jacob Kreiss, John
Loffler, Frederick Leuke, William Leipnitz, Frederick Maeir, John
Mueller, Lewis Plattin, Otto Roggenbricker, Philip R. Rack, Bernhaid
Sextro, Henry Stoddick, Christian Schetler, Joseph Schneider, Peter
Schneider, Henry Stamm, August Schroppe, Herman Spaemberg,
Joseph Schander, Christian Schmidt, August Seigmund, John Schmidt,
Frederick Strick, Louis Schmolze, George Wiedeworth, Peter Wet-
terick, William Zarsk,e Peter Brummer, Christopher Dammier, John
Greberstein, Anthony Otto, Casper Oberdries, John Rudel, Henry
Rupprehct, Jacob Schifferdecker, Conrad Stein, Anthony Zeke.
Killed in Battle. — Corporal Herman Lutz; Privates Frederick Gor-
dike, William Huth, Otto Kutter, George Kuhne.
Died. — Sergeant George Honold; Privates Rudolph Arnold, Franz
Baechle, William Baelser, William Federlin, Frederick Fisch, Henry
Racke, William Newman, William Trimemeyer.
Missing in Action. — Private John Ganer.
Discharged. — First Sergeant Ferdinand Seyper; Corporal Andreas
Hosfeld; Privates Ehrhart Buettner, Charles Biedenbender, John
Friker, George Harting, Lucas Haettig, Simon Kaerling, George Lim-
berger, WiUliam Meir, Henry Mayer, Joshua Mueller, August Pert,
William Schnellman, Henry Schubrook, Otto Spankuch, Valentine
Weinheimer.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
103
Transferred. — Private Charles Barker; Musicians John Deiterich,
Michael Meiser.
On muster-in, but not on muster-out roll. — First Lieutenant Charles
Bahn.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Jacob Glonchovvski.
First Lieutenant Morris Pohlman.
First Liuetenant Herman Groskordt.
Second Lieutenant Adolphus Kuhn.
Second Lieutenant Louis Kuster.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Robert Haile.
Sergeant Peter Heischauer.
Sergeant Frederick Brand.
Sergeant Wilhelm Besseeke.
Corporal Carl Kommandera.
Corporal Charles Stuchle.
Corporal August Stoeppel.
Corporal Peter Stoltz.
Corporal William Meinking.
Corporal August Kettler.
Wagoner Andrew Motrz.
PRIVATES.
John Bachmann, Charles Brandt, Philip Blum, Louis Bode, Herman
Buscher, Wilhelm Buscher, John Bulow, Henry DeVenkamp, William
Doepke, Francis Feuerstein, Charles Fischer, John Frommel, John
Grothen, John Hazeltein. Jacob Hatman, Nicholas Hanck, Frederick
Hebenstreel, George Hesch, John Janson, Philip Jacob, Gustave Kaiser,
Christian Kleinschmit, Henry Krumdick, John Kraus, Isador Kuhn,
Theodore Koehn, Henry Lubbert, William Meier, Henrich Meinking,
Frederick Munzer, Frederick Opitz, Bernhardt Ortmann, Frederick
Poff, Bernhard Quinke, Lorenz Quinke, August Roese, Gustave Rulle,
John Schaefer, John Schatzben, George Schatzmann, John Schiek,
Emil Schudert, Albert Schmidt, Matthias Schaller, Jacob Schneider,
George Seeger, George Severling, Theodore Skinner, Henry Struve,
Christian Tolle, Christian Voeckel, Andrew Woessner, Joseph Wegner,
Paul Dilley, Henry Pfaffenbauch, Theodore Hartz, Matthias Meier.
Died. — Corporal Louis Weghurst; Privates John Blankenheim, George
Belk, Louis Buscher, Joseph Danner, Andrew Haum, Henry Keifer,
Theodore Sabin.
Discharged. — Sergeants George Graff, Henry Marting; Privates Fred-
erick Abel, George Beigel, Charles Dolletsbeek, Joseph Dietsch, Loyd
Dixon, WiUiara Gehm, Charles Hillwein, Michael Rapp, Anton Wild.
Transferred. — Sergeant John Lindner; Corporals Herman Fischer,
August Wilsbacher; Musician Leopold Praeger; Privates Albert Bender,
Frederick Brandt, Theodore Herth, Christopher Miller, John Ridder-
mann.
Prisoners of War. — Sergeant Joseph Hochler; Privates Christian
Ehlert, Joseph Hillinger, Bernhard Riddamann, Frederick Vehrenkamp,
Henry Voss, Henry Foss.
COMPANY I.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain John Ganson.
First Lieutenant William Henbig.
First Lieutenant Charles Dolezich.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Graff.
Second Lieutenant Andrew Jenny.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant Ferdinand Opitz.
Sergeant William Huttenmiller.
Sergeant George Stenken.
Corporal Herman Liman.
Corporal Frederick Jant.
Corporal John Steffel.
Corporal Anton Greiner.
Corporal Herman Warnke.
Corporal John Schmidt.
Musician Louis Hoendorf.
PRIVATES.
William Bickmeyer, Jacob Boehler, Philip Burckhardt, Emil Becher,
Christian Balks, William Bock, Joseph Comarth, Herman Demme,
Leopold Dollen, Philip Fitz, Benjamin Foley, Christian Fleichman,
Francis FiUan, Michael Graw, Louis Haack, Edward Hammel, Chris-
tian Haffner, Ignatz Hoch, John Heine, Louis Hoerr, Rudolph Hoel-
schen, Frederick Hoeller, Fedolin Kaffoden, Charles Leiser, Anton
Meier, William Muerer, Philip Merty, Adolph Newbrick, Jolin Ort-
wein, Charles Ohl, Henry Paul, Alexander Ruf, Peter Rohland, Joseph
Shirm, August Stoecken, William Stoecken, John Schuman, Frederick
Schmidt, Robert Schmidt, John Seifert, Charles Slants, Christian
Soberer, Charles Slienle, Fabian Wiemer, Henry Westmeyer, Conrarth
Wolf, Jacob Blattner, August Beisen, Gustav Becker, Charles Haack,
Peter Hobstetter, Daniel Schmidt, Leo Schroeder, Christian Schott,
Daniel Schneider, Joseph Wiclort.
Killed in Battle. — Sergeant Michael Hamman, Corporal Gottlieb
Reiber; Privates, Lee Bochler, Frederick Frill, John Kental, Charles
Mueller, William Reichman, Gustav Stoecken, Conarth Springgard.
Died. — Drummer Thornton Eberhardt; Privates Henry Blomeyer,
Louis Runk, George Vanan.
Discharged. — F,rederick Bauenmeister, Christian Constanz, Bern-
hardt Hoelscher, Urban Keifenheim, George Kapp, Jacob Lava,
Charles Mensing, John Adam Nay, Charles Taucher.
Prisoners of War. — First Sergeant James Doll; Sergeant Casper
Messemer; Corporal Charles Hoppest, Wagoner Jacob Schaeffer Pri-
vates Daniel Grimm, Edward Uttendenfer.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Richard Schneider; Privates Philip
Bikel, Frederick Banemeister, Jacob Bauer, John Boccord, Lewis
Kadow.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain George Sommer.
Captain E. B. Thomson.
First Lieutenant Theodore Hafner.
First Lieutenant James Mangold.
First Lieutenant Louis Grove,
Second Lieutenant Louis Fricker.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Jacob Mather.
Sergeant Peter Kinzler.
Sergeant Charles Kempf.
Sergeant Lorenz Miller.
Sergeant Jolui Kempfer.
Corporal Julius Siegel.
Corporal Joseph Frichs.
Corporal Philip Marrer.
Corporal John Radley.
Corporal David Thaler.
Teamster Leonard Wissmeier.
PRIVATES.
Jacob August, Bernhard Axra, Ferdinand Baldinger, Martin Bassler,
Henry Bauer, Jacob Beck, Sebastian Beringer, Thomas Buchta, Rein-
hard Dalmon, Alexander Dalmon, Peter Erbacher, George Fellinger,
August Fellsman, John Grether, Theodore Gubser, John Geiger, Con-
stantine Geschwind, Frederick Hartmann, John Hartman, George Hof,
August Halthof, John Hoch, Jacob Jetter, Joseph Knoble, Leonard
Kirscher, Jacob Kirschbaum, Martin Kramer, William Lenzer, Anton
Myer, Emanuel Marthi, George Meixner, Frederick Mueller, Georg
Mutter, Jacob Mandeiy, John Obenauer, Michael Reutschler, Victor
Ruedy, Jacob Sommer, John Scheverman, Frederick Schubert, Philip
Schubert, Martin Seifert, Alpheus Sommerhalder, George J. Schenck,
Henry Waechler, Jacob Zellweyer, Marcus Ziegenhard, Jacob Hotz,
Adam Kuehn, George Sommer, Ferdinand Seyfried, John Seidel, Her-
man Teichert.
Killed in Battle. — Privates Godfrey Hauth, Gottfried Grosser.
Missing in Action. — George Roller, Andrew Schuyeck.
Died. — Privates, William Gerhard, Albert Homcger, Leopold Mar-
rer, Solomon Schneider, John Schneider, John Seibold, Cyriack Vogt.
Discharged. — Corporals William Mueller, Anthony Mohler; Pri-
vates George Buettner, Lewis Bauer, Jacob Honppler, John Kuhn,
John KuU, Christopher Kull, John Mueller, John Mickel, Henry
Neuman, Louis Preissel, John Renner, Theodore Rehse, Martin Sel-
ler, John Schenck, William Sauerwine, Marcus Wieser, Conrad Zie-
gler, Frederick Zamp.
Prisoners of War. — Privates William Berg, Charles Rauber.
Transferred. — Corporal- Joseph Krebs; Privates Adolph Brandner,
Julius Fischer, George Gruntee, Peter Keltenbach, Jacob Orth, Peter
Schaus, William Hauck, Charles Henry, Frederick Lauch.
TENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
This was one of the several regiments raised at once
in Cincinnati upon the outbreak of the war. It mus-
104
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
tered in May 7, 1861, and shortly after marched from
Camp Harrison to Camp Dennison, seventeen miles, in
less than four hours. Many officers and enlisted men
had seen service in Mexico and Europe. It was inspected
at Camp Dennison by General McClelian, and highly
complimented by him. In the latter part of May the
Tenth re-enlisted almost in a body for three years, and was
again mustered in, June 3d, as a three-years' regiment,
when the ladies of Cincinnati presented it a splendid
stand of colors. June 24th it was reported to General Mc-
Clelian at Grafton, and marched thence to Clarksburgh,
whence it moved to the relief of a beleaguered force at
Glenville, but found it relieved without a fight. Two
months marching and scouting in the mountains followed,
after which it led the advance of Rosecrans to Carnifex
Ferry. Here the regiment was hotly engaged and com-
pelled to fall back. In the subsequent movements the
Tenth took an active share, serving in every skirmish
and battle in that campaign, closing with the chase of
Floyd from Cotton mountain. November 2d, the Tenth
returned to Cincinnati on its way to Kentucky, and re-
ceived a most enthusiastic greeting as the "heroes of Car-
nifex." Some of the streets through which it moved were
so thronged that space was scarcely left for the column.
It formed in line on Broadway, opposite Colonel Lytle's
home, where he was suffering from a wound, but arose
and accompanied his regiment on its triumphal march.
After a week in the city it went to Kentucky and was as-
signed to the Thirteenth brigade. Third division of Buell's
army. Through Kentucky and Tennessee it shared the
splendid achievements of General Mitchel, its division
commander, and upon reaching Huntsville, Alabama, it
was put on provost guard duty, which it performed to the
eminent satisfaction of the citizens. Colonel Lytle was
now commanding the brigade, and led it on the long march
back to the Ohio. October 2d, the regiment received
sixty recruits, and the next day moved toward Perryville,
where it was very sharply engaged, losing almost exactly
one half the number with which it went into action.
When General Rosecrans relieved Buell the Tenth was
announced as headquarters and provost guard of the Ar-
my of the Cumberland, relieving the Fifteenth United
States infantry. During the battle of Stone River it pro-
tected the communications, and was highly commended
in the official report. Seven companies of the regiment
saved a train which was being plundered by Wheeler's
cavalry, besides turning back several thousand fugitives
from the battle-field. At headquarters, some time after,
Mrs. Rosecrans personally presented the members of the
"Roll of Honor" in the regiment with their badges, and
pinned them herself on the breasts of the veterans. A
beautiful national flag was also received from the city of
Cincinnati in appreciation of the gallantry and daring of
the Tenth. The regiment was present with Rosecrans
at Chickamauga, and with Thomas at Mission Ridge,
Buzzard Roost, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, and in the
Atlanta campaign to Kingston. When its term had near-
ly expired it was formed in front of headquarters, where
General Thomas, contrary to his custom, addressed it a
few words of parting cheer and of compliment for its
bearing on all occasions. General Whipple, chief of staff",
sent a eulogistic letter expressing his deep regret that the
army was about to lose the "glorious old Tenth Ohio."
The boys gave "three times three" for General Thomas,
and another for the Army of the Cumberland, and still
another for the Union cause, and then filed off ho'me-
ward bound. Its return was cordially welcomed in Cin-
cinnati, and it was shortly afterward mustered out of ser-
vice.
FIELD AND STAFF,
Colonel William H. Lytle.
Colonel Joseph W. Burk.
Lieutenant Colonel Herman J. Korff,
Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Moore.
Lieutenant Colonel William M. Ward.
Major John E. Hudson,
Adjutant James A. Groves.
Adjutant Daniel O'Connor.
Adjutant Thomas A. Patterson,
Quartermaster Francis Darr.
Quartermaster Nicholas Lacy,
Quartermaster Luke Murrin.
Surgeon Charles S. Muscroft.
Surgeon Homer C. Shaw,
Assistant Surgeon John B. Rice.
Assistant Surgeon Joseph H. Van Deman.
Assistant Surgeon Francis £. Powers.
Chaplain William T. O'Higgins.
Sergeant Major Nicholas Knox.
Sergeant Major Daniel Troohig.
Sergeant Major Newton McKee.
Quartermaster Sergeant Luke Murrin.
Quartermaster Sergeant John Connolly.
Commissary Sergeant Matthias Reiddinger.
Commissary Sergeant John Heber.
Hospital Steward John J. Memiinger.
Chief Bugler Jacob Seibeck.
Principal Musician John O'Grady.
REGIMENTAL BAND.
Principal Musician John W. Walter; Musicians John Breslau, Louis
J. Blackner, William Bierman, Hugh Coyle, Charles Colgan, Daniel
Finn, John W. Fischer, Hugh Hurley, Frederick C. Krull, John Man-
oeue, Simon Moeller, William J. O'Neill, Charles A. Rademacher,
Bernard Strusberger, Peter C. Schickle, Charles Schroth, George F.
Wedemeyer, Charles Walter,
COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain John O'Dowd. .
Captain John Fanning.
First Lieutenant John Crauley.
First Lieutenant Daniel O'Neill.
First Lieutenant Timothy D. McNeff.
Second Lieutenant WiUiam Lambert.
Second Lieutenant James Foley.
Second Lieutenant Isaac Shideler,
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Luke Jones.
Sergeant Thomas Burcell.
Sergeant Manuel O'Ribe.
Sergeant Michael O'Brien.
Sergeant John P, Williams,
Corporal Samuel Hickman,
Corporal Patrick Norton.
Corporal Patrick Troohig,
PRIVATES.
James Brown, Thomas Barry, Michael Carey, Dennis Curran, Wil-
liam Crumley, Patrick Conroy, Thomas Coleman, Thomas Dolan,
John Deffley, John Fenn, John Gilligan, Patrick Giltman, Matthew
Herbert, David Higgins, Edward Hanlon, Timothy Hartnett, Richard
Jennings, James E. Jones, John Kenney, John Logan, Michael Lar-
kins, Thomas McDonald, Patrick McGarry, James Maloney, John
Muhan, John I. Murphy, Patrick Nealon, Francis Phillips, Thomas
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
loS
Ryan, Dennis Ryan, Michael Tydings, Timothy Umford, Michael
Barry, Felix McHugh, James Smith, James Horan, Charles B. Davis,
James Boyd, Thomas O'Brien, Michael I. Fatten, Michael Keenan,
James Tulty, Hugh Dennedy, Henry A. Brown, James Clare, Timo-
thy Doyle, Patricli J. Gillivan, Patrick Keenan, Patrick McCudgen,
Samuel McMuUen, Charles Malloy, Robert Kittrich, James McAndre,
William O'Brien, Patrick O'Neill, Thomas Bryan, John Reed, Patrick
Stark, Jacob Sage, John Ehiffy, James Galligher, Thomas Dwyer.
Killed in Battle. — Sergeants John Dowd and Patrick Kavanagh;
t'rivates Thomas German, William Morehouse, Harry Rooney, Patrick
Keeshaw, Daniel Diffley, James Harrison, James Haley, Bernard Ken-
ney, Hamilton Keown, Tobias Real.
Died. — Corporals Joseph Dume and James Fisher; Privates John
Carey, James McCudley, Patrick Jourdan, Hubert Farrell.
Discharged. — Sergeant Daniel O'Neill, Daniel Toohig, William Lam-
bert, James Foley; Privates John Connelly, Charles Dennenhour,
George Leonard, Charles McDermott, James Malone, Daniel O'Con-
nor.
Transferred. — Privates Francis Carroll, James Christy, John Barrett,
David Cullerton, Michael Cowan, John Gushing, Patrick Dowd, James
Malone, John Fitzpatnck, Michael Ryan, John Harte, James B. Mar-
tin, Thomas Mahoney, John Donohoe, Dennis Murphy, Edward Can-
non, Michael Brophy.
COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Emil Seib.
Captain C. F. Nickel.
Captain Rudolph Seebaum.
First Lieutenant George Schafanacker.
First Lieutenant Charles Weber.
Second Lieutenant Matthias Reidlinger.
Second Lieutenant William Thede.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant William Grundkemeyer.
Sergeant August Maak,
Sergeant Charles Heok.
Corporal John Keoh.
Corporal John Dannenhauer.
Corporal Fritz Tiemann,
Corporal Henry Toppe.
Corporal William Hblle.
PRIVATES.
John Dicks, Henry Borchers, John Burns, Herman Bnigemann,
William Caroteus, Abraham Creppel, John Dippel, Christian Drehs,
Charles Dreyer, Frederick Gleisker, Lorenz Germann, Christian Gill,
Joseph Hampiiing, Brenhardt Herbert, Ulrich Hepler, Henry Hofle,
Charles Junket, PhiUip S. Kappes, Andreas Krogner, Fritz Kurz,
Henry Leive, Charles Linsel. Jacob Manshardt, Henry Mainsen, Ernest
Mathies, Henry Meyer, Henry Mueller, August Reinfield, George
Reinfelder, Charles Rosenplanter, Casper Schiller, Henry Schmidt,
Ernst Schmeisser, Frederick Schoeuben, John Schubert, Thomas
Schuster, Simon Seiger, Thadeus Sonnentag, John Spery, Fritz
Weckerlin, Alexander Westerkamra, Frederick Strew, Fritz Weiskopf,
Wilhelm Westler, Jacob Ziegle, Charles Rukhardt, Clemens Eickhof,
Conrad Fuchs, Martrias Hoff, August Kelding, Edward Marquardt,
Jacob Mueller, Andreas Poppe, Peter Pfeifer.
Killedin battle. — Corporal Moritz Kurz; Privates William Marquardt,
Kermaux Schramm, William Wellman.
Died. — Sergeant Theodore Murmann; First Sergeant Henry Gunkel;
Privates Frederick Kensehler, Frederick Joerger, Anton Koffleer,
Henry Rodenberg.
Discharged. — Privates Henry Aul, Frederick Bub, Gotleib Brugmann,
Joseph Erchenlohr, John Filgar, Franz Franzum, Charles Grau,
Christian Heck, Franz Krumel, John Kurtz, Francis Kinerehm, Her-
man Leffering, John Mueller, Frederick Meyer, Henry Nunhuser,
Rudolph Ruppiller, Charles Sohiker, Lewis Schulze, MatthiesenSonker,
Rudolph Wiltgenfield.
Transferred. — Privates John Koller, Charles Hohmann., Michael,
Hess, John Fuller, Felix Keifel, Folsche Conrad, William Thede,
Charles Dicks.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain John E. Hudson.
Captain James T. Hickey.
Captain Thomas J. Kelly.
First Lieutenant Dominick J. Burk.
Second Lieutenant Thomas Downey.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Michael Logan.
Sergeant Patrick McDonnell.
Sergeant Patrick Menich,
Sergeant Bernard Duane.
Sergeant Samuel Backas.
Corporal Patrick Murphy.
Corporal Charles Madden.
Corporal Phillip Baxter.
Corporal Andrew Philan.
PRIVATES.
Charles Allen, Edward Browne, Paul Burns, Lawrence Berry,
Michael Carroll, Mathew Callahan, Michael Cashen, John Cassedy,
Henry Clavin, Henry Cramer, William Costello, Michael Davey, James
Green, WiUiam Hayes, Tim Harris, John Herrmann, Frederick John-
son, James Kelly, John W. Kelly, Nicholas Kierman, WiUiam Kebblel,
Mathew Lane, Joseph Langil, Thomas Lonard, Michael Loftus,
Michael Lowe, Daniel Marble, James Miller, John McCormick, Samuel
S. Mathews, Thomas B. Parr, Thomas Rooney, William Sellers,
Michael Stokes, Michael H. Shannon, Michael Shannon, Daniel Shea,
James Taylor, William Willis, Patrick Dwyer, Terrence Doherty,
Joseph Guthrie, Charles R. Le Blanc, Corporals John S. Pierce, Peter
Bruin, Patrick Callahan, John Cavanagh, William Callahan, Thomas
Daly, Michael Delaney, Thomas Dyer, John Cum.mins, Michael Fitz-
simmons, Luke Findley, Peter J. Galagher, James Johnson, Michael
Lally, William Morrison, Cornelius Murphy, Bartholomew O'Donald,
John Quinn.
Killed in battle. — Corporals Patrick Brogan, William Spence; Pri-
vates James Peters, John Reed, James Costello, Thomas Singleton,
Henry Cohlmann.
Died.— Sergeant James Smith; Privates John Rymer, John Kelly,
Terrence Mahon, James M. Smith, Charles 'Cavanagh, Christopher
Stenfield.
Discharged. — First Sergeants William D. Harman, Thomas Downey,
Thomas J. Kelly, Joseph Hoban; Sergeant Joseph Gibson; Musician
Michael Griffin; Privates Charles S. Brown, Patrick Duffy, Alfred
Green, Thomas Gillick, John M. Farwell, Patrick Fawley, Patrick
Knight, John Meyers, Patrick Mahon, James Marion, Thomas Reiley,
Benjamin Scott, Edward Wolf.
Transferred. — Corporal Peter Moran; Musician John Keiser; Privates
William Hickev, Edward McGarrahan, John I. McBride, WiUiam
Johnson, John Johnson, John Nicholson, Malachi Bonghani, Michael
Dillon, Daniel Cavanagh, Jonah R. Gregory, Patrick Gilmartin,
Thomas Twan, Michael E. Joyce, Patrick Sweeney, Michael Lawless.
COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain R. M. Moore.
Captain Philip C. Marmion.
First Lieutenant Eugene R. Eaton.
First Lieutenant Joseph Donahue.
First Lieutenant John S. Mulroy.
Second Lieutenant Peter Gessner.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Matthew J. Redmond.
Sergeant James J. Quinn.
Sergeant John Horn.
Sergeant Michael Fernon.
Sergeant Matthew Byarl.
Corporal James Fitzsimmons.
Corporal Thomas Hannon.
Corporal Bernard M. Kinney.
Corporal Bernard C. Corbett.
Corporal Thomas O'Brien.
Musician James A. Devine,
Wagoner Lewis Lee.
PRIVATES.
Robert Adamsf Frank Biggins, Daniel Callahan, Felix Devin, John
Enright, Joseph Enfelder, Bernard Fitzimmons, Dennis Fitspatrick,
William J. Gray, John H. Greene, John Gleason, James Hector,
Michael Hill, Luke Kelly, Thomas Lawrence, Michael Meara, James
Mullen, James Malia, Thomas McDonald, John McHugh, Louis J.
Nadared, John O'Connel, Edward O'Neil, John Sonday, Richard A.
Seymour, Thomas Huggins, George Shuck, George Underwood,
Joseph A. Wise, John C. Wood.
io6
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Killed in Battle. — Privates, George Aichenger, John Corcoran, Cor-
nelius Haley, Bernard King, Louis Shuck.
Died. — Corporal John T. Cunningham: Privates James Brannan,
Patrick Hays, Daniel Higgins, Thomas Higgins, Christopher Jones,
Conrad Kuich, James Murley, Andrew Reash, Dennis Shannon.
Missing in Action. — Private Michael Kelly.
Discharged. — Sergeant Joseph Donohue; Corporal John C. Quinn;
Privates Lewis H. AuU, Maurice J. Bolger, Luke Brannon, James
Birmingham, William Cody, Michael Costello, Patrick Devitt, John
Ferguson, Thomas Hubbard, James Holland, Timothy Holland, Henry
Heredan, Bryan Kennedy, John Lennon, James Mahoney, Daniel N.
Mariner, John D. Myers, Thomas D. Munion, Edward O'Neill, Henry
Witte, William Fitzgerald, James GiUen, John Greany.
Corporals, Edward O'Connor, John C. Hays, Alfred Edwards,
Michael Gavin; Privates Richard Busker, Dennis Forbes, James Farley,
Patrick Hatton, Thomas Hanlin, Andrew Herbert, James Hines, Wil-
liam A. Jones, Dennis Kennedy, John Lawley, James McMahon,
Thomas Moore, William O'Connor, Michael O'Cushing, Timothy
Ryan, Josepii Radle, Thomas Scott, Michael Russell, William Scully.
Transferred. — Privates, George W. Beadle, Thomas Crow, Edward
Crolty, William H. Devine, William Duwellen, John Dougherty,
Thomas Fitzpatrick, James Finley, John Farrell, John Forrester, Jerry
F. Halpin, Jacob Lubeck, John Lloyd, Michael Lane, William
Murphy, William H. McElroy, James McGrath, William Noel,
Thomas Redmund, Michael Reany, Richard A. Thomas, James
Thompson, Robert Walsh, Patrick Collins.
COMPANY. E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain James M. Fitzgerald.
Captain Stephen J. McGroarty.
Captain Luke H. Murdock.
First Lieutenant James A. Grover.
First Lieutenant Daniel Twohig.
Second Lieutenant John Sullivan.
Second Lieutenant Daniel O'Connor.
Second Lieutenant Timothy McNeff.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant William Donevon.
Sergeant Timothy Sullivan.
Sergeant Andrew Cunningham.
Sergeant John B. Filming.
Corporal Thomas H. Corcoran.
Corporal Austin Walsh.
Corporal Thomas F. O'Shea.
Musician Lawrence Callahan.
PRIVATES.
David Butler, James Butler, William Brown, Peter Campbell, Patrick
Cannon, John Conway, Patrick Connelly, Michael Caulfield, Michael
Craig, William Fitzgerald, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Michael Flanagan,
Patrick Flanagan, Patrick Fosner, James Goffney, Patrick Hen-
nessy, Michael Hatton, Maurice Joyce, John Kehoe, John Keller,
Patrick Kelly, John Lewrien, Michael Manian, James Mullen,
Michael Meehan, Thomas Moken, William H. McKeown ; Pat-
rick McGown, Michael O'Leary, Timothy Ryan, John Troy,
Mathias Coughlin, Nicholas Butler, Richard Carroll, John Con-
nelly, John Carey, James Christy, Patrick Conlier, William Dennis,
Edward Hasty, Edward Hackett, Thomas Helm, Richard Kelly.
Charles D. Lynch, Thomas McVey, James McGlinehy, James Makin,
Patrick TcCabe, Patrick Malloy, John McGrea, Samuel Sullivan
Michael Smith, William A. Smith, Dennis SchoUord, Dennis Sullivan,
Patrick Schollord, George W. Truss.
Killed in battle.— First Sergeant John Kennedy; Privates Michaej
Fitzgibbon, George Fisher, Patrick Duffy, Patrick McGeven, James
Robb, John McCostly.
Died. — Privates John Anderson, John Cook, Daniel Cohill, William
Dugan, Francis Foley, Robert King, George S. Murphy, James Mc-
Hugh, Patrick O'Brien.
Discharged. — Corporal Michael Sorigan; Privates Patrick Burk-,
Robert Brown, Michael Donnelly, Michael Johnson, Patrick Kenny,
Francis J. Kestings, Peter Haney, John Mahoney, Cornelius Moran
Hugh Meriorty, Christopher McCasIin, James P. Rierdon, Richard
Sweetman, Terrence Sweeney, Patrick Sullivan, John Walsh, William
Watson.
Transferred. — Sergeant, Patrick S. Kerney; privates, John Whalen,
Michael Coogan, John Donovan, Dennis Ennis, Thomas Hoban, James
Mokin, Thomas Wallace, William Cary, William Gillispie, Patrick W.
Quinlin, Hamilton Keown, John Johnson, Henry Glass, John O.tbury,
William H. Stein, George W. Green.
COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Christian Amis.
First Lieutenant Conrad Frederick.
First Lieutenant Alfred Pritle.
First Lieutenant Luke Murrin. '
First Lieutenant Sebastian Eustachi.
Second Lieutenant George C. MuUer.
Second Lieutenant WiUhelm Otendorf.
Second Lieutenant WiUhelm Thede.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Frederick Ahlborn.
Sergeant Valentine Cornelius.
Sergeant John Schultz.
Sergeant William Kaiser.
Sergeant Wendelin Broedler.
Corporal Charles Schmidt.
Corporal Michael Kraus.
Corporal John Meyer.
Corporal Joseph Fullherbst.
Corporal Joseph Stranbriger.
Corporal Ferdinand Henencoart.
Corporal Frank Betzer.
Wagoner James Stengel.
PRIVATES.
Heinrich -Andres, Henry Bolsinger, Jacob Breckle, George Boepple,
Wilhelm Braseninger, Anton Bur, Charles Ehrlicker, Wilhelm Fei-
tag, John Freck, Wilhelm Fischer, John Fritz, Frederick M. Fein,
Martin Fussz, Charles Grether, Charles Greis, Lorenz Gremler, Henry
Hetzel, Philip Hess, Christian Kumming, William Kruget, John Klein,
Martin Kuhn, Jacob Kuhn, Dayobeith King, Fidel Kopp, Rudolph
Kroeger, Joseph Mayer, John Mueller, Philip Muller, Friedoline Reum,
John Reutschle, Andrew Schlachterager, Franz Seebach, Frank Sutor,
Jacob Stroble, Wilhelm Seehaus, John Stalline, John Schaefer, Hein-
rich Schneider, Edward Tourell, Peter Weber, Joseph Welter, Mein-
rathZelmder, Joseph Zuleger, Drummer Wilhelm Connelly, Gotleib Eck-
ert, Conrad Goetz, Henry Long, Richard Meier, John Sticksee, Henry
Seelinger.
Killed in Battle. — Privates Christian Heinrich, John Hanus, John
Kartbauser.
Missing in Action. — Privates Heinrich Enghausen Edward Fischer.
Died. — Privates John Berkemer, John Dusbus, Charles Koch,
Charles Meckel, Ferdinand Rau, Wilhelm Reuzenlimk.
Discharged. — Sergeant Adolphus Reichel; Corporals Ignatz Wil-
helm, Friedrich Lutz, John Kleingries; Bugler Joseph H. Franz; Pri-
vates.Frederick Buck, Charles Dark, Wiihelm Hemriiig, George Hoff,
Charles P. Harring, Henry Jaeger, Cheistian Koehler, Jacob Kurtzer,
Richard Lampe, Adam Ney, Adam Pfeifer, August-Sturm, John Steitz,
Ernst 'Weber, John Winkler, John Zeiman.
Transferred. — Privates Michael Feller, John Haab, Joseph Halick,
Henry Kumming, George Rink, Henry Wolf, John Siepe.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain James P. Sedam.
Captain William H. Steele.
Captain John Sullivan.
Captain William C. Morgodent.
First Lieutenant Thomas Burns.
First Lieutenant Thomas N. Patterson.
First Lieutenant Granville McSherry.
Second Lieutenant Henry D. Page.
Second Lieutenant James A. Grover.
. NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant James Ennis.
Sergeant David Kimble.
Sergeant James Gilber.
Sergeant William Fairlamb.
Corporal-John Knur.
Corporal Frederick Englehart.
Corporal William Liebla.
Corporal Clements Licking.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
107
Corporal David Grant.
Wagoner George Seifart.
PRIV.\TES.
Ross Ally, James Dilley, John Elvert, Edward Eikel, Samuel L. Fry,
William Feeny, Charles Gutheins, Hiram Havelin, Clark Hiett, John
Hum, Edward Johnson, Oliver Jordan, Henry Light, William Myers,
Thompson Miller, Frank McGill, August Miller, Jacob Mayer, Thomas
O'Neil, John Rape, John Rentz, Joseph Sindlebeck, Henry Switzer,
August Van Horn, William Waring, Charles Anderson, Levine
Church, Henry Crupper, James Cahill, John Clark, Alfred Hewitt,
John Hogan, David Johnson, Benjamin Kavits, James Kelley, Wil-
liam Matheson, Thomas Murry, Frank McCormick, Charles Naylor,
George Nelson.
Died. — Privates Conrad Cook, John M. Dowde, Joseph Hockhorn,
Charles Hughes, John Krirsel, August Shulthouse, Frederick Shaefter,
Louis Siegel, Louis Weisner.
Discharged. — Sergeants William P. Martin, Sidney Milner, James
M. Keefer; Privates Christopher Alexander, John Cox, August Croma,
William C. Deters, John Donavan, Henry Elfres, John Hunt, Edward
Hamilton, Stephen Mistbeck, Michael McGuire, Bernard Monagan,
Walter Mains, John Murphy, Henry Nitchsky, James Nash, Philip
Quintin, William Smith, Joseph Storer, Washington Seymour, Robert
Wittemeyer, William Wilson.
Veterans. — Privates Nelson Duval, James Reynolds, Thomas Sloan.
Transferred — Sergeants Isaac Shidler and Peter Gifney; Privates Jo-
seph Colter, Michael McCloskey, Jacob Maturn, John Miller, John
Spies.
Recruits. —Sergeant Anderson Camillens; Privates Ferdinand M.
Dugan, Henry Garner, George McCleary, John McKeever, Louis
Snyder, Charles Smith, Joseph Turner.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Thomas G. Tienion.
Captain Charles C. Cramsey.
First Lieutenant Thomas McMuUen.
First Lieutenant John Sullivan.
First Lieutenant Daniel O'Neil.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Connelly.
Second Lieutenant Alfred Pitle.
Second Lieutenant Timothy D. McNeff.
Second Lieutenant William D. Harmon.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Patrick Doyle. _
Sergeant Patrick Daugherty.
Sergeant Michael Murphy.
Sergeant John H. Bartell.
Sergeant Samuel Newell.
Corporal James Early.
Corporal Michael Cain.
Corporal William Gleeson.
Corporal Edward Ryan.
Corporal Charles Carty.
Corporal Peter Shannon.
Corporal James Regan.
Wagoner John Malone.
PRIVATES.
Michael Brennan, Thomas Cavanaugh, Michael Cain, Cornelius
Conway, James Currey, Michael Clifford, Peter Carney. William Clark,
Francis Carroll, Thomas Donohue, James Dunn, Richard Doran,
Dennis Fanning, Thomas Fitzsimmons, Patrick Farrell, Patrick Fingan,
Michael Guilford, John Gannon, Patrick Heiferman, Patrick Hart,
Dennis Haggerty, John Hogan, Charles Henry, Michael Kerwin,
Lawrence Kerhoe, John Lillis, Philip Liddy, John Long, John Murry,
William Murphy, John McCarty, John Moore, James McAuleff,
Patrick McDonald, Patrick O'Brien, Patrick O'Connor, Wilham Roch-
ford, Herman Remple, John Thomas, Robert Whiteside, Charles
Herbert, Thomas Liddy, Henry Allen, George Fance, Peter Feeney,
Patrick Gallagher, James Hoffman, Owen Haley, Terrence Hotten
Frederick Hotter, Martin Kinney, Joseph Linch, Mathias McKeown,
James McNicholas, James Quinlivan, Roger Quinn, George Reilly,
John Rush, Thomas Regan, John Shields, Jacob Smith.
Killed in Battle. — Privates Henry Crossen, John Doyle, Patrick
Henrihan.
Died. — Privates Dennis Burke, Michael Clancey, James Fitzgerald,
William Houlihan, Patrick Gillaspie, Patrick Lillis, William Neylon
James Kelley, John Rafferty.
Discharged. — Privates James Able, Thomas Conway, John Donohue,
John Fox, John Fitzgibbons, John Houlihan, John Lobb, Terrence Mc-
Mannus, Patrick Mutagh, Patrick Murry, Marcellus Mitchell, Frederick
Packhard, Patrick Sweeney.
Transferred, etc. — I^irst Sergeant John Malloy; Musician, John Mc-
Gready; Privates William Conklin, John Cogan, Michael Dill, Patrick
Huland, John Joyce, Timothy Kavanaugh, Thomas Kelly, Thomas
Liddy, John Tempsey.
Not on company rolls.— Jesse T. Walters.
COMPANY I.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain William M. Ward.
Captain Thomas J. Kelly.
First Lieutenant Charles C. Cramsey.
First Lieutenant Luke H. Murdock.
Second Lieutenant Nicholas Lacy.
Second Lieutenant Dominick J. Burk.
Second Lieutenant James Foley.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant James Linch.
Sergeant Samuel E. Brown.
Sergeant Roman Amerien.
Sergeant Patrick Regan.
Coiporaljohn Kester.
Corporal St. Clair Baldwin.
Corporal Andrew Amthauer.
Corporal Peter Sanders.
Corporal James Riley.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Arbuthnot, John Butler, Thomas Crogan, Thomas Crotly>
John Davis, Michael Doyle, Christopher Dupps, Charles Fagan, John
Fey, Patrick Gilmartin, Peter Glabb, John Hirseh, Charles Harrison,
Charles Jan tzen, Joseph Krail, James King, John Kuhn, Adolph Keit-
man, Jacob Klimm, George Keadich, John Linder, Dennis NcAuliffe,
Joseph Miller, Thomas Mailey, John Orr, Thomas Phalan, Louis Pohl-
man, Amos F. Reynolds, Frederick Scheffler, Henry Smith, William
Sullivan, Bernard Stewe, Julius Sommer, Thomas Secoan, Thomas
Webb, Martin Whalan, Philip Zeagemauth, Patrick Cain, Daniel
Cavanaugh, Peter Hoffman, Lawrence Hettinger, Gustavus Sie-
del. Rarer C. Morrison, John Wittengel, Maurice P. O'SuUi-
van, John H. Sanders, Henry Bauman, James Clark, Martin Gehardt,
Josiah Gregory, Charles Hohmann, Joseph Heider, John Keon,
Charles Keller, James Kelly, William Linglumier, James McKune,
Michael Ryan, John Rods, Joseph Somrenberg, Perry Strasberger,
Jacob Strom, Henry Taylor, Samuel Winchester, Henry Wince.
Killed in Battle. — Augustus Hilgenaier, Charles Medary, William
Porter.
Died. — Privates James Cumberland, Andrew Christens, Patrick
Duane, Peter Dolan, Thomas Kelly, William Louis, Valentine Manthi,
Hubert Nillis, Anthony Quinn, Abraham Rosenberger, William Rosk-
off, Charles Scherges, Edward Vaughn; Corporal Patrick H. White.
Discharged. — Privates Xavier AUgaier, John Bickler, William Beck-
man, Pierce Bergen, John Burmister, John Doyle, Francis GroU, Charles
Gross, John Huigerther, John Kenny, Robert Middleton, Theodore
Reiman, John Young, William Young.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Luke H. Murdock; Sergeants Dom-
inick J. Burke, Patrick Rainey; Privates Patrick Flanagan, Edward
O'Donnnell, William Keating, Richard Doran, Patrick Gallagher,
Patrick Gillispie, Jeremiah Long, Patrick McDonald, Samuel Newell,
Patrick O'Brien, William S, O'Brien, James QuinUvan, George Schnek.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Henry Robinson.
Captain John Bently.
Captain Daniel O'Connor.
First Lieutenant John J. Stites.
First Lieutenant Eugene R. Eaton.
Second Lieutenant Nicholas Knox.
Second Lieutenant John Mallory.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Andrew Hammond.
Sergeant James Upperman.
Sergeant James E. Lecount.
Sergeant Charles Lickert.
io8
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Sergeant Francis Marlatt.
Corporal Patrick Griffin.
Corporal Devvitt C. Belleville.
Corporal Wesley Dragoo.
PRIVATES.
Frederick Ansterly, Courtland W. Brunson, George Bealer, William
H. Bennett, Andrew Burke, Valentine Busam, Steplien Bokenkoetter,
Frederick Baum, Edward Brown, Goltleib Brightfield, Henry Chose-
man, John Crotly, Richard Dooley, Dennis Daugherty, John Dobener,
Christian Dymond, Louis Eckert, Frederick Fleesman, Joseph Fowler,
John Fox, Edwin H. Folger, John Gorman, Matthew Gilfius, Florence
Hindermock, Thomas Hishberger, Charles Hines, John Holtz, John
Hay, Charles S. Johnson, Frederick Keonig, 1 awrence Kerry, Joseph
Munter, John Miller, John Moser, Herman Maus, John Och, Charles
Ortman, George Osterman, Christopher Petrie, Patrick Powers, Martin
Raabe, John Renner, Adam Rohman, Paul Shoener, William Stander-
man, William Shafer, HenryJ. Stein, William Troecher, John Van-
fleet, 'Henry Wertz, John Winer, Thomas B. Ward, John Wagoner,
Walter Curtis, Moses Nixon, Julius Austerhouse.J esse Cooper.
Killed in Battle. — Private Albert Christ.
Died.— Sergeant George G. Belleville; Corporal Aaron Bridsal,
Privates Adolphus Beaman, Charles Leicht, George Miller, John
Schreiver.
Discharged. — Privates William Allen, William Baker, Henry Bitter,
Lawrence Firnpoess, Charles Hine, P'rederick Kleiber, James Long,
Christopher Roser, John W. Toskey.
ELEVENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Only part of this regiment was raised in Hamilton
county. It mustered in for three months April, 1861,
and for three years June 20, i86r. Taking the field in
July, it formed part of the celebrated Kanawha division,
led by General J. D. Cox, and participated in all the
movements of the division in West Virginia and else-
where. At one time company K, principally mechanics,
rebuilt a bridge across the Pocotaligo in less than a day,
with no tools but some axes and augers. The same com-
pany afterwards helped to build two boats, together form-
ing a ferry-boat one hundred and forty feet long, with
which communication was opened between the wings of
the Kanawha army. The Eleventh was in the battle of
South Mountain, and took part in the famous charge
against the stone wall; fought also at Antietam, was re-
moved to Tennessee in February, 1863, participated in
the advance on Chattanooga, was in the battles of Chick-
amauga and Mission Ridge, and some months after in a
desperate charge up a steep declivity near Buzzard's
Roost, when it lost one-sixth of its men.
February 17, 1864, it was presented with a stand of
colors by the ladies of Troy, Ohio. The regiment, after
a hearty welcome in Cincinnati on its return, was mus-
tered out June 21, 1864. Until the time of its disband-
ment, from December, 1861, a regimental church was
kept up, and the religious element was always prominent
in the command.
The Eleventh battalion of Ohio infantry was composed
of two companies of this regiment whose time did not
expire as soon as the others, and also of those who re-
enlisted as veterans. They were commanded by Lieu-
tenant Colonel Stubbs, who had been sergeant major of
the original organization; accompanied Sherman in his
last campaign; and were mustered out at the close of the
war.
COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain William L. Douglass.
Captain Lewis G. Brown.
First Lieutenant Silas Roney.
First Lieutenant George E. Peck.
Second Lieutenant James M. Elliott.
First Lieutenant William Crubaugh.
First Lieutenant William M. Culbertson.
First Lieutenant Cyreneus Longly,
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Isaac McKenzie.
Sergeant William N. Hathaway.
Sergeant Thomas Clegg.
Sergeant Francis M. Ogden.
Sergeant William H. Aydman.
Corporal John F. Silman.
Corporal Phillip Behman.
Corporal John Comer.
Corporal Charles Abbott.
Wagoner Richard Penny.
PRIVATES.
John C. Bain, Lewis C. Bail, William Britton, William L. Bower,
Charles Buehn, Joseph Brown, Stephen Burke, John Dennis, Hugh
Davis, Peter Devine, Jacob Evans, John Fregate, Joseph W. Fren-
zell, Harvey Fox, John Godfrey, James Humphrey, John C. HoUi-
day, Charles Hauselman, Albert W. Heuntz, David Johnson, AUison
Johnson, Jacob G. Lake, William Malloney, James Merville, William
Maurath, John S. Morris, James Mallon, George D. Mayle, Isaac Me-
riah, Lewis Penny, Ellis Penny, Lafayette Penny, William L. Pierson,
Robert C. Silman, Emil Leitz, John B. Sutherland, George W. Schrei-
ver, Jacob Schunk, Isaac Treker, Josliua Urten, William A. Utter, Au-
gust Voltz, George Wasson, William Watson, John H. Webster,
Charles H. Whittaker, James Williams, Virgil A. Williams, Edward
Yocum, Benjamin Boyd, Thomas Brickel, Austheimel Byrket, Hiram
Bryant, Thomas Brown, William Carpenter, Hezekiah Crampton,
Charles Crayton, Obed Dennis, Joseph H. Doehrer, Thomas Dwyer,
John Hastings, Robert Hall, Edward Jones, Charles Johnson, John
Lowden, Benjamin Lowden, Phillip McKinney, Isaac Meguire, Charles
Mortimer, James Minton, Alfred Miller, James Norris, Henry Nelson,
Patrick J. Owen, Wilson Oblinger, Abram D. Philips, Robert Patterson,
Jabez D. Raynor, George Reynolds, John Schmitt, Charles Sill, James
S. Stillman, William Sherer, Joseph Tate, William A. Tarr, Henry
Wear, Charles W. Worden, John W. White.
Killed in Action. — Private John Baker.
Died. — Sergeants John H. Peck, Marvin B. Wolf; Corporals Bos-
well S. Wagoner, George G. L. Murphy; Privates John F. Colther,
Henry C. Day, Charles M. Geusch, Frederick Heusey, Noah Sams,
Simeon Shideler.
Discharged. — Privates Ely W. Bennett, John L. Culbertson, James
Daa, John Dyson, Robert N. Douglass, Samuel Fast, John Ferris,
Frederick Feame, George Hamer, William Hiser, William H. Kelsey,
Alfred H. Monroe, Snell Mansfield, Joseph E. Pierson, Floid L. Smith,
Daniel R. P. Shoemaker, Late A. Stewart, James Sisson, James N.
Sisson, Alexander Smith, Walter S. Stevens, Robert D. Robb.
Transferred. — Privates Silas P. Ake, Charles H. Baker, Joseph
Bower, Jerome Bro\vn, Albert Berry, Henry D. Culbertson, Henry
Clickner, Michael Casey, Ellsberry G. Covault, Geoige K. Daily, Wat-
son Baggot, Edward Dorsey, Cornelius Deeter, James Funk, William
Gosnel, Daniel Hampton, David Helpman, Jacob Houser, Frank Ho-
man, Daniel Hunt, Jacob H. Irwin, Nathan Keltner, William Kelly,
Andrew Kin, Charles E. H. Kimball, Christopher Myers, James Mc-
Donald, William L. McFall, Henry C. McNight, Jacob Marlett, Mar-
tin Noran, Christopher Neisley, John Pritchard, Sylvester Penny, James
Rouse, William Reiber, Jonathan Rollins, John Reese, Owen A. Reich,
William Roney, Dennis Regan, Lerile E. Smith, Phillip Smith, John
Sulliger, Walter Steinberger, L. A. Thomas, Joseph Wich, Jacob
Wise, Levi W. Whittaker, Nathan Whittaker, George Williams, Mar-
tin V. Williams, Jonathan Wilkins, James Westfall, Samuel Farr.
Prisoner of War. — Private William H. Boyle.
Discharged. — Sergeants Bailey Plumb, George D. Palmer, Samuel
A. Collins.
COMPANY I.
PRIVATES.
William M. Sampson, Abraham Toot, Perry Truden, James Veitch,
Lucien Wissheng, Calvin Wolf, Thomas Stofer, Charles Redbing.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Philander A. Lane.
Captain George Johnson.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
109
First Lieutenant George P. Darrow.
First Lieutenant Charles J. Cottinhan.
First Lieutenant Charles J. McCline.
First Lieutenant Theodore Cox.
Second Lieutenant Alfred L. Conklin.
Second Lieutenant George Johnson.
Second Lieutenant Robert C. Morris.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Elliott McGowan,
Sergeant Jeremiah Hardwick.
Sergeant Jacob Myers.
Corporal Simeon Hays.
PRIVATES.
George Andrew, Thomas Anderson, Frederick W. Becker, Charles
Bosworth, Michael Beechler, Samuel Brock, John C. DeButts, Edward
Eaton, James Figfer, Henry Foil, George Germeyer, Richard Gilbert,
Martin Hooker, Albert G. Hoole, Joseph Keller, Adam Neiberger,
Andrew Rossler, Joseph Stinger, George Smith, No. i; George Smith,
No. 2; Jarred Wallace, Charles Young.
Sergeant David Baird; Corporals John T. Clark, Moses Redhead,
John Mirslee; Privates George H. Armstrong, Edward Bateman, Rich-
ard Bristol, Michael Casey, James M. Clark, Martin Comer, Daniel
Diebold, Simon Detach, Henry Effing, James Flynn, Oscar B. Fowler,
John Fuglin, John Gardner, Martin Goudling, John Goodrich, Charles
H. Greenwood, Edward Hundley, John W. Hementlialer, Henry Kel-
ler, Henry King, Peter Lowring, William H. Lynn, Joseph C. Lynn,
Joseph M. Malone, Henry Marshall, Joseph Me.x, James Mosley, John
Meir, Edward Myers, Reuben McKenney, Alexander McPherson,
Charles Patterson, David G. Patton, Perry Wilson, Benjamin Wilhair.
Killed in battle. — Corporal Charles H. Wright; Privates John Boos,
Joseph Bunker, Michael Depretz, Michael Hoath, Marion Powell,
John Scholsser, John Weiner.
Died. — Teamsters William Allen, Rensdan Carson; Privates Engle-
bert Dold, William A. Fowler, Jacob Reif, Benjamin Stevens, James
Westfall.
Discharged. — First Sergeants Orlando Hudson, George S. Swayne;
Sergeant Joseph Pearson; Corporals William Hays, Charles McCor-
mick; Musician George Van Ausdale; Privates Lewis Ankle, Theobald
S. Bransby, Benoni Dixon, John K. Di.Kon, Theodore English, Asa F.
Flagg, George Granger, Michael Gigar, Lewis Grey, Henry Hunnach,
John Hull, Hugh H. Humphrey, Victor Kennecht, David F. Lansing,
Dumont Mills, Landrum Noel, Abel Pearson, Joseph Powers, Dennis
Ragan, Ransalaer Richardson, Jackson Suibner, John W. H. Searles,
Albert Sennett, Walter Stpinberger, Nathan W. Whitaker, Jonathan
Wilkins.
Transferred. — First Sergeant John Ginten; Privates Charles H.
Carothers, Joshua Handen, Englebert, Kaupfer Schmidt, Philip Roach,
William Carroll, William Christian, Frank M. Fowler, Joseph P.
Morris, Samuel F. Myers, Charles R. Patrick, William H. Lee, George
A. Stinger, Levi W. Whitaker.
ELEVENTH BATTALION OHIO INFANTRY. COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain D. Clinton Stubbs.
First Lieutenant Fiancis M. Ogden.
Second Lieutenant David W. Murrice.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Charles Abbo t.
Sergeant John Tilman.
Sergeant Philip Betoman
Sergeant John Connor
Sergeant Jacob Schenck
Corporal James Williams.
Corporal John A. Webster.
Corporals Joshua Urton Waymers.
Corporal James R. Kinney,
Corporal James F. O'Conner.
PRIVATES.
Louis C. Baird, John W. Baine, WiUiam L. Bowen, Peter Presan,
William L. Britton, Stephen Brik, Charles Buehn, Hugh Davis, John
Dennis, Peter Devore, James G. Evans, Harvey Fox, Joseph W. Fent-
zel, John Fugates, John Godfrey, Charles Hanselman, Raleigh D. Hat-
field, Albert W. Hentz, John C. Holliday, James Humphreys, Daniel
Hunt, Allison Johnson, David Johnson, Jacob H. La Rue, David K.
Lonthan, James Mellon, William Maloney, William Manrath, G. D.
Mazle, Isaac Moenah, James Merrill, John T. Morris, Ellis Penney,
La Fayette Penney, Abraham Rozer, George W. Schreiver, Robert C.
Silman, Emil Seitz, George W. Snively, Isaac Tuckey, William A.
Utley, August Voltz, Harrison H. Wait, George Wassen, William
Watson, Charlas W. Whittaeker, Virgil A. Williams, William H.
Wydman, Edwin Yocum.
Jacob G. Labe.
Died. — Privates, William H. Harrison, John Smith.
Discharged. — Sergeant Major D. Clinton Stubbs; First Sergeant
Francis M. Ogden; Sergeant Thomas Clegg; Corporals Frederick
Eberhart and Henry Burns; Privates James W. Campbell, John W.
Clark, Isaac Flickinger, William Harvey, James McDonell, John R,
Osborne, Louis Penney, Richard Penney, William Wiearson, James
Rowe, Henry Timons.
Prisoners of War. — Privates, Harvey Fox, Raleigh D. Hatfield.
Mustered for Transfer, but Mustered out with Company. — Corpor-
als William Crawford, August Herring; Privates, James G. Achuff,
John Londin, John Mallee, Samuel A. McQuiston, James Morris,
James Riley, Daniel Ross, Frederick Steirley, John H. Trump, Peter
Walter, James Wallace, George Wintringham, James Salter, Joseph
C. Brown.
COMPANY I.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Corporal John W. Smith.
PRIVATES.
Francis M. Fowler, William H. Lee, John W. Barry, Charles R.
Patrick, William Carroll, George A. Stinger, Charles Redbrug.
TWELFTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Mustered into service May 3, and June 28, 1861.
COMPANY A.
Private James H. Pierson.
COMPANY C.
PRIVATES.
Zachariah Crippen (killed in battle) Hugh McCabe, Josiah J. Higbee.
COMPANY H.
PRIVATES.
Albert T. Boswell, William B. Carey, George M. D. Evans
COMPANY I.
PRIVATES.
Jacob Bauman, Charles Graysoff, John Hymer, Lewis Green, Chris-
tian C. White.
THIRTEENTH BATTALION OHIO INFANTRY.
Four companies of veterans of the Thirteenth Ohio infantry, organ-
ized June, 1864.
COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Captain Michael Hartenstein.
PRIVATES.
Louis Brightfield, Frederick Harmon, Michael Reis, Andrew August
FOURTEENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Mustered into service May 18, and August, 1861.
COMPANY A.
PRIVATES.
Andrew Landbury, George W. Lendberger, J. A. Laird, William
Kleinsory, Ludwig Miller.
COMPANY B.
PRIVATES.
Gustav Kelly (died) John Wagner.
COMPANY C.
PRIVATES.
George R. Barnes, James Brennan, Daniel Conger, John Cook Jo-
seph Fritche, Bennett H. Koka, Frank Winsell.
Private James Gorrell.
COMPANY E.
COMPANY H.
PRIVATES.
John C. Albrecht, Joseph Barkla, Conrad Dahoff, Carl Geyer, Wil-
liam Hastig.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
COMPANY K.
PRIVATES.
August Bust, Alexander Hulbert, Daniel Erb, Thomas Kelly, Dennis
Kelly, T. A. Laird.
FIFTEENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Mustered into service May and September, 1861.
COMPANY B.
PRIVATES.
John Chrfstie, Peter Flick,
COMPANY K.
PRIVATES.
George Dettmer, Joseph Doll, George Henzel, Charles H. Dinaman,
lona Bleeholder, Henry Brackman, Samuel Bushmaster, Richard Cole-
man, Christopher Detteling, Kasper D. Trussee, Leo W. Wale, John
McFadden, Christopher Shrader.
SIXTEENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
(Three Months' Service.)
COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
First Lieutenant William H. Wade.
PRIVATES.
William B. Gibson, Simeon G. Jones, Hiram M. Lee, George L.
McKeehan, Charles R. Wilder.
SEVENTEENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Mustered into service April and September, 1861.
COMPANY A.
PRIVATES.
Robert A. Quinn, John Ripler, Ferdinand Shaffer, George Walen-
roth, Robert Schmidt, George H. Barrow.
COMPANY C.
Private Philip Sheets.
COMPANY E.
PRIVATES.
John Barnhart, George F. Ely, Gabriel P. Smith, Henry Schroder,
Richard Stiver, Beldaser Schaub, John Scott, Landlin Swigler, John
Thuler, Lewis C. Wright, Ernest Wehman, Frank Zimmerly.
COMPANY F.
PRIVATES.
WiUiam Stelrenkamp, Joseph Schrommer, John Theurer. Patrick
Ernwtight, Marthaus Guiner.
COMPANY G.
PRIVATES.
John Cass, James M. Gallaher, John D. Kibbey, James W. Richard.
COMPANY I.
Private Charles L. Wagenhals.
EIGHTEENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
This regiment was organized at Camps Wood and
Dennison between August and November, 1861. Its
service was with the Armies of the Ohio and the Cum-
berland; it was in the battle of Chickamauga and other
actions, and was honorably discharged November 9,
1864. A second organization, bearing the same name,
was formed from the veterans of several Ohio regiments,
and fought in the battle of Nashville. It was retained in
service until October 22, 1865, when it was mustered out
at Columbus.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Adjutant Henry H. Welch.
Musician Velosu A. Taylor.
Hospital Steward John C. Cochran.
Quartermaster Sergeant George P. Jarvis.
COMPANY B.
PRIVATES.
Samuel D. Decker, Zachariah Garris, Joseph H. Royar, John Fitz-
gerald.
COMPANY C.
PRIVATES.
William Beeden, Granvill Toy, John Williams, John L. Cochran,
George Stewenagle, George W. Holmes, Patrick Riley.
COMPANY D.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Florentz.
COMPANY E.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Corporal Asa Robbins.
Corporal WiUiam Emery.
PRIVATES.
John Boesser, John Battle, William Hanlin, Samuel Morched,
Thomas J. Abbott, Timothy Brannan, John Calt; James Cnuck, Joshua
Demkerly, Richard Duncan, Charles F. English, William Hoffue, John
McGeer, William D. Tattman, Jecy C. Young.
COMPANY F.
PRIVATES.
Augustus Shovaney, Paul Wilson, William Waters.
COMPANY G.
Private Charles A. Stone.
COMPANY H.
NON-CCMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Corporal Joseph Williams.
PRIVATES.
John Aylers, Joseph Anderson, Henry Abberdeing, Henry Altmeyre,
Ernest Benedict, Charles B. Slotey.
COMPANY I. (Veteran).
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER,?.
First Sergeant James B. Boyer.
Sergeant Elias Shaefer.
Sergeant Martin V. Monday.
Sergeant Brice Hayes.
Corporal John E, Porter.
Corporal Louis Landman.
Corporal Henry Sebexen.
Corporal Henry Demar.
PRIVATES.
Junius B. W. Black, Milton Collins, Luther D. Dupoy, John Dear-
don, Joshua Delaplane, Morris Foley, John Ferris, Philip C. Fearline,
Louis Gruber, Christian Haber, John Hassing, William Halt, Charles
M. Kimbrough, Patrick McCabe, John Mulcahy, Lorentz Miller, El-
wood Madden, John A. Myer, Charles Nicholas, Leonides Price, George
Peter, Patrick Ryan, John Smith, Ferdinand Schultz, George Showalter,
John Snowden, Thomas B. Thayer, William Wyane, Henry Young,
Wilhelm Zueker, Philip Zegerard, Thomas Burns, Simeon Culbertson,
Henry Guthcamp, WiUiam J. O'Naherty, Joseph Hampton, Marcus
Hathaway, John W. Holcomb, Frank Bernard, Ignatz Burtz, Jacob
Cohn, Mathias P. Dingeman, George W. Machinaw, Albert MorreU,
Samuel A. Brady, James Peck, John Ryan, William F. Smith, Samuel
Snedegar, Peter Tigan, Peter Warren, Herman Kroog, John Kennedy,
Charles W. Lewis.
Died. — Privates Benjamin F. Buckbee, Herman H. Erpenstein; Ser-
geant Benjamin F. Fox.
COMPANY K. (Veteran).
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Sergeant Charles John.
PRIVATES.
Peter Gabriel, Michael Bettinger, Lewis Book.
NINETEENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Mustered into service May and November, i86r.
COMPANY C.
Private Theodore Seivering.
COMPANY H.
PRIVATES.
Heniy Minike, Peter Monroe, Henry Buckhouse, Michael Genshuger.
COMPANY I.
PRIVATES.
James Stewart, Barney Brockman (Twentieth Ohio).
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
COMPANY B. (Veteran).
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
First Sergeant Godfrey B. Alexander.
PRIVATES.
Henry Kepper, John Johnson (died), John Hall.
COMPANY D.
Private Thomas Paliner.
COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Second Lieutenant James B. Walker.
PRIVATES.
Lewis Stillman, James B. Walker, .Albert Black.
COMPANY E. (Veteran).
PRIVATES.
Joseph Bradford, Lewis Webber.
COMPANY G. (Veteran).
Private Gottfried Schmidt.
COMPANY H.
Private Albert G. Black.
COMPANY I.
Private Herman Neetfelt.
COMPANY I. (Veteran).
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Captain Francis M. Shaklee.
PRIVATES.
Christopher Yerke, Thomas Wilson.
COMPANY K.
Private William Shanen.
TWENTIETH OHIO INFANTRY.
The three months' regiment of this number was
raised at once upon the outbreak of war. One company
(B) was recruited at Oxford, Butler county, mainly from
the students of Miami university. Among them were
the following-named from Cincinnati :
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Captain Ozu Jennison Dodds.
PRIVATES.
John R. Hunt, jr., Carter B. Harrison, Robert A. Leonard, James
A. Leonard, Charles L. Seward.
( Three Years' Service. )
COMPANY H.
PRIVATES.
Albert Black, Mason Harmon.
COMPANY I.
PRIVATES.
Christopher Gehrke, James Lingen, Herman Neatfelt.
COMPANY K.
PRIVATES.
Thomas Gleason, William Sharron.
TWENTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Assistant Surgeon Richard Gray, jr.
TWENTY-SECOND OHIO INFANTRY.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel Crafts J. Wright.
Major Charles W. Anderson.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
First Lieutenant Edwin Smith.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Corporal John Winright.
Corporal William H. Sheir.
Corporal James H. Stopher.
PRIVATES.
Rudolph Betz, James Campbell, Joseph McGarten, John Sheridan
Robert Wychler, William B. Arthur, William Green, Matthew Harren,
Joseph Peters, Alfred Swing, Julius Shemer, James Farris.
COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
First Lieutenant Robert McGreggor.
COMPANY I.
Private Philip W. Quentin.
TWENTY-SECOND BATTALION OHIO INFANTRY.
(Veterans and recruits of the Twenty-third Ohio infantry.)
COMPANY A.
PRIVATES.
William Cummings, Lewis C. Miller, William Montgomery, John
Probst, William H. Rogers.
COMPANY B.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Corporal James P. Woods.
PRIVATES.
John Williams, Alexander Bowers, Tilton Hall, Patrick Murray,
Isaac B. Norris, John E. Wortman; Drummer Ebenezer Westwood.
TWENTY-THIRD OHIO INFANTRY.
This was Colonel (afterwards General) Rosecrans' reg-
iment. Among its field officers were also Rutherford B.
Hayes, Stanley Matthews, James M. Conly, and E. Par-
ker Scammon, three of whom became generals, and one
of them President of the United States. It was organ-
ized at Camp Chase, in June, 1861, for three years' ser-
vice; served in West Virginia, and elsewhere in the east,
was at the battle of Cedar Creek, and other famous ac-
tions, and was finally mustered out July 26, 1865, at
Cumberland.
STAFF OFFICER.
Sergeant Major William W. Stevens.
COMPANY A.
PRIVATES.
William Lyons, Casper Plankuch, William Sullivan, James Brown,
Thomas Burnes, Thomas Gillen, Alfred C. Harris, John Lanvercombe.
John Fletcher.
COMPANY B.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Fisher, Salathiel Roach, Thomas Cady, Daniel Dedy, Morti-
mer S. Denwoody, Joseph Davis, Benjamin Evans, Henry Evans, Wil-
liam Kilgore.
COMPANY c. (Veteran).
PRIVATES.
John Canedy, Hanson L, Gwynn, Gustavus Mason, James Pierson,
Christopher C. White, John Gibernel, Alfred Grow, George W. Shell-
cross, James Tinner.
Died. — Charles O. Case, Zachariah Crippen, Hugh McCabe.
Discharged. — Corporal Kellum Sanford; Privates John C. Coleman,
John Deverming, JosiahJ. Higby.
COMPANY D.
PRIVATES.
William Terrell, Lewis Hood, William White, 2d, Darman Williams,
William Meade, Frederick Smithgall, William Hamilton (died), John
L. Douglass (discharged).
COMPANY E.
PRIVATES.
James Carl, James A. Kelly, Frantz Kaiser, John King, William
R. Haliman, Hugh Kearney, John Keenan.
COMPANY F.
PRIVATES,
Jacob Maguir, Edward Benker, Andrew Gigle, George Heddinger,
Christopher Copier, Edward Lanson, Jeremiah Long, Joseph Lemare,
John Ma.Kville, John O'Brian, John Reed.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
COMPANY G.
PRIVATES.
Harvey Buchanan, Patrick McGown, John McGee, John Ockley,
Wilham Osterholt, Conrad Weitzel, WilUam B, Maples, James Presley
(killed in battle), Hiram Anderson, William Bragg, John Dougherty,
Richard Ellison, Levi Fuller, George Godsey, Henry Gedeman,
Thomas Marfling, James O' Brian, John Rath.
Discharged. — Calvin W. Hudson, Lewis Mayer, John Stander.
COMPANY H.
PRIVATES.
Michael Sontag, John Somerton, Herman Smith, Charles Schmidt,
Michael O'Brien (discharged).
COMPANY I.
PRIVATES.
John Walker, William W. Stevens, Andrew J. Bolan, Daniel Smith,
Andrew Schlochberger, Samuel Turner, Daniel Walsh.
COMPANY K.
PRIVATES.
William Wickelhouse, James Donnelly, Jacob Van Long, John
Morris, Albert G. Boswell, Isaac Wickley, William B. Gary (died),
George M. D. Evans, Charles M. Rollings, John Riley, James Smith,
Harry Wallace, Charles B. Wilson, William S. Warrick, Samuel W.
Wallace.
TWENTY-FOURTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Mustered into service in July, i86i.
COMPANY F.
First Lieutenant Henry G. Graham.
TWENTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Assistant Surgeon Daniel Richards.
COMPANY F.
Private Emanuel Brill.
COMPANY I.
PRIVATES.
John S. Pryor, Adeu Richason (died).
TWENTY-SEVENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
The organization of this regiment took place at Camp
Chase in August, 1861. Before December they are heard
of at St. Louis, St. Charles and Mexico, Missouri, Lex-
ington, Kansas City, and Sadalia. During this month
they shared in the capture of thirteen hundred recruits
on their way to join the rebel General Price. In March
this regiment was in the advance in the movement on Is-
land No. 10, and May i, was with the army that
moved on Corinth. On the nineteenth of September the
Twenty-seventh was a part of the force sent to re-
capture luka. October 3, at the battle of Corinth it lost
heavily. A timely reinforcement of two hundred recruits
arrived soon after. Early in November, the Ohio brigade,
of which the Twenty-seventh formed a part, with Grant's
army, marched to Oxford, Mississippi. They were next
ordered to Jackson, Tennessee, to intercept Forrest,
whom they met at Parker's cross roads, where an engage-
ment took place, resulting in the capture of seven guns,
three hundred and sixty prisoners, and four hundred
horses. Shortly after re-enlistment, this brigade moved
against and captured Decatur. At Dallas the rebels
were driven before them. The regiment was also en-
gaged with Hood's corps on the twenty-eighth of May,
skirmished at Big Shanty in June, and fought at Kenesaw
and Nicojack creek in July.
Before Atlanta, on the twenty-second of July, the regi-
ment was in one of its severest battles, and sustained its
heaviest loss. In the pursuit of Hood to the northward ,
it had a part; it also marched with Sherman to the sea,
and was in the campaign of the Carolinas. After Johns-
ton's surrender, the Twenty-seventh moved to Washing-
ton, and in July, 1865, at Camp Dennison, received its
final payment and discharge.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Sergeant Major Jacob C. Cohen.
Sergeant Major Edward B. Temple.
Quartermaster Sergeant John Jones.
COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Jacob S. Menken.
Captain James Morgan.
Second Lieutenant Jacob C. Cohen.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Henry Tape.
First Sergeant Thomas Morgan.
Sergeant Robert C. Biggadike.
Sergeant John Toms.
Sergeant Edward B. Temple.
Sergeant William Roberts.
Sergeant Adolph Myers.
Sergeant Robert Gardner.
Sergeant Ferdinand Fagle.
Corporal Benjamin F. Long.
Corporal William E. Moore.
Corporal Edward P. Toms.
Corporal John Kerdoff.
Corporal E. W. Hippie.
Corporal James H. Jones.
Corporal George Everett.
Musician Charles Chiffer,
PRIVATES.
John Atkins, George Barner, John Bryant, J. P. Bergman, Patrick
Burk, Eugene Carroll, William H. Dobbins, Hugh Dunn, James Egan,
Patrick Fox, Frederick Graff, Noah C. Groves, Edwin Gibson. William
Gantz, Daniel Haggerty, William A. Jeffers, Adolph Krause, William
King, Michael Knoffloch, William D. Lilly, John A. McCalmont, John
McMillen, John Murphy, Edward Martz, Joseph Meising, Louis H.
Mayer, John Miller, Dennis O'Brian, John O'Tool, Peter Pointers,
Harmon H. Remmert, Thomas Ryan, John H. Steiweider, August
Senmert, Joseph Sokup, Maurice Troy, Frederick Talaze, Arnold Zem-
mert, Ernest Zeuchner, William F. Cole, William E. Cole.
COMPANY D.
. PRIVATES.
Joseph Black, Josiah Raines.
COMPANY G.
Private Joseph McDaniels.
COMPANY H.
Private John M. Moore (died).
COMPANY I.
Private Christian North (died).
COMPANY K.
PRIVATES.
Leopold Gardner, Enoch A. Hutchinson, O. E. Steward, James A.
Sweet, John A.J oseph (died).
TWENTY-EIGHTH OHIO INFANTRY.
This regiment was recruited largely among the Cin-
cinnati Germans; and so much attached are those of its
surviving members who yet reside in the city to its mem-
ory, that they still hold monthly re-unions on Sundays,
at some convenient rendezvous — a case not exactly par-
alleled, we venture to say, anywhere in the world. It
was mustered in July 6, 1861, for three years, and moved
from Camp Dennison to Point Pleasant, Virginia, on the
thirty-first. Colonel Merr, with four hundred picked
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
113
men, presently relieved the home guards at Spencer,
where they were besieged by the rebels. The regiment
joined the force under General Rosecrans, and fought at
Carnifex Ferry, where it lost three killed and twenty-seven
wounded. October 21st, at New River, two of its com-
panies had a sharp fight with the rebels on the Union
picket line. The winter and part of the next spring were
spent at Gauley, in thorough drill and instruction; and
May 2, 1862, the Twenty-eighth marched to Fayetteville
and took place in the Second brigade of the Kanawha
division, under General Cox. At Wolf creek, near East
River mountain, two companies defeated a rebel force,
and destroyed a wagon train loaded with commissary
stores. About half the regiment was in the next fight,
near Wytheville, losing six dead and eleven wounded.
Several other skirmishes occurred during the operations
of the summer, but without much loss. On the march
to Washington, begun at Flat Top mountain , August isth,
the regiment had a skirmish with Stuart's cavalry at Fall-
church, September 4th. The division was now attached
to the Ninth army corps, under General Reno. Septem-
ber 13th, Colonel Mori's brigade, in which was the Twenty-
eighth, drove the rebels ost of Frederick City. At South
Mountain the Kanawha division bore the brunt of the
battle. At Antietam this regiment was the first to ford
, the creek above the stone bridge, and remained on the
skirmish line of the Ninth corps all night. It lost forty-
two killed and hurt in this action. The next winter was
passed in West Virginia, mainly at Buckhannon. About
the middle of June the command was marched to Mary-
land, and then back to Beverly, to repel a threatened in-
vasion. At Droop mountain, July 6th, a rebel force was
attacked and defeated, with heavy loss. The remainder
of the summer, and the fall and winter, were spent in
active operations, with much marching and other hard-
ships, but no great amount of fighting. April 25, 1864,
the Twenth-eighth was ordered to the army of the Shen-
andoah, to "fight mit Siegel," who was then reorganizing
the army at Bunker Hill. It aided to force Imboden from
New Market, May i ith, and was in the batrie of New Mar-
ket the next day, which was fought in a heavy thunder-
storm. June sth it was in the attack upon the rebel General
Jones near Piedmont, and was the only regiment of the
force charging the works that did not fall back, holding
its ground and preventing the rebels from making a cen-
tre charge for three-fourths of an hour, when it was re-
called and handsomely complimented by General Hunter.
The third charge forced the enemy from his works, kill-
ing General Jones, and deciding the battle. The Twenty-
eighth lost thirty-three'killed and one hundred and five
wounded, out of four hundred and eighty-four engaged.
Two color-bearers were killed and three wounded; and
the flag was torn by seventy- two balls and pieces of shell.
After another month and a half of very active service, it
was ordered home, greeted warmly by its multitudinous
friends at Cincinnati, and mustered out July 23d. Its
total losses in the field were two officers killed, seven
wounded; ninety enlisted men killed, one hundred and
sixty-two wounded, one hundred and seventy-three disa-
bled by disease; in all four hundred and thirty-four.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Clonel August Moore.
Lieutenant Colonel Godfried Becker.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Bohlender.
Major Ernest Schochi.
Major Rudolph Heintz.
Surgeon Gerhard Saal.
Surgeon Charles E. Deing.
Assistant Surgeon Adolphus Schoenbein.
Assistant Surgeon George P. Hackenberg.
Assistant Surgeon A. E. Jenner.
Chaplain Charles Beyschlag.
Chaplain Frederick Goebel.
Adjutant Leopold Markbreit.
Adjutant John Lang.
Quartermaster Herman Kaugsberger.
Quartermaster Samuel Rosenshaf.
Sergeant Major Louis Fass.
Sergeant Major Albert Liamin.
Sergeant Major Henry Acker.
Sergeant Major Rudolph Gutenstein.
Sergeant Major Charles Ludorff.
Sergeant Major Abesevan Landberg.
Commissary Sergeant Michael Schmidtheimer.
Commissary Sergeant John Ruterieck.
Commissary Sergeant Frank Salzmann.
Quartermaster Sergeant Joseph Newbacher.
Quartermaster Sergeant Louis Weitzel.
Quartermaster Sergeant Charles Schmidt.
Hospital Steward William Bauer.
Hospital Steward Frederick Ries.
Chief Musician Francis Schmitt.
Chief Bugler Adolphus Schiller.
Drum Major Joseph Brodbeck.
Musician Otto Zink.
COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Ernest Schache.
Captain Charles Drach.
First Lieutenant Charles Meyer.
First Lieutenant Frederick Weising.
First Lieutenant Frederick Halzer.
First Lieutenant Albert Livmin.
Second Lieutenant Louis Faas.
Second LieutenantTAugust Herman.
Second Lieutenant Leopold Markbreit.
Second Lieutenant William Althammer.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant August Hess.
Sergeant Henry Kaling.
Sergeant Charles Mueller.
SergeantJWilliam Hansom.
Sergeant Gottleib Lange.
Corporal Jacob Mueller.
Corporal Christian Stueve.
Corporal William Streilberg.
Corporal Herman Moeller.
Corporal Charles Bertram.
PRIVATES.
George Beokman, Nicholas Biedinger, Otto Briegel, John Dalbele,
Lorenz Hinkeyer Frederick Feller, Joseph Heilmerer, Louis Haben-
stadt, Antony Kayser, Frank Kemper, George Klett, John Peter Krouz,
Andrew Shider, Frederick Linderman, Christian Luttman, William
Mastin, Charles Mashnitz, Herman Meyer, Peter Nospacher, John
Platfoot, Alexander Pansald, Henry Rodenberg, George Schein, Charles
Sebold, Gustave Schmidt, Michael Schwabel, Christian Schwarzenhaet-
zer, John Spaeth, Louis Straever, Joseph Udry, Ulrich Walt, Henry
Wubbenherst, Bernhard Hoffman, Daniel Galtz, Charles Neiman, Frank
Kauffman, Frederick Engleke, Frantz Lippart, Frederick Funk, Michael
Gratz, Charles Merk, Charles Kuehn, August Walker, Frederick Kei-
linger, Charles Heuke, Charles Wolf, Conrad Job, Joseph Duerr, Henry
Harland, Maxwell Hug, Frederick Haatman, John Weber, Julius
Reiche.
Killed in Battle. — Private John Helling, Corporal Conrad Meeker.
Died. — Private Charles Yeiser, Simon Poettger, Philip Pieh, Henry
Schadleman; Maxwell MeuUer.
114
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Sergeant Louis Steir; Privates Antony Mueller, John Henshman,
Philip Stuckenberg, Henry Stuckenberg, George Small, Jacob Burk-
hard, Frederick Langner, John Huber, Antony Pflanger, Frederick
Winderick,
Transferred. — First Sergeant Samuel Rosenthal ; Sergeants Herman
Guthard, Albert Liomin, IVIichael Schmittener ; Privates Louis Witzel,
Joseph IVlark ; Corporal Frank Salzman.
Recruits. — Privates Andrew Daniels, Frank Genter, Jacob Galtz.
COMPANY A. (yeteran).
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Edwin Fry.
First Lieutenant Frederick Hagenbuch.
Second Lieutenant Christopher Tenge.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant John Jones.
Sergeant Ahvin Rademacher.
Sergeant John Reimer,
Sergeant Julius Frenzel.
Sergeant Michael Trunk.
Corporal Louis Reiher.
Corporal Martin Hohmann.
Corporal John Smith.
Corporal Jacob Jung.
Corporal George Winter.
PRIVATES.
Charles Baumann, Conrad Bajer, Martin Bilber, Henry Braeskman,
Frank Boland, Henry Correl, George Doell, Jacob Sellman, Ernest
Dietz, Gabriel Diescher, Charles Forberg, Frank Griesler, Jacob Grue-
ner, I. Glatt, George Grabuth, August Hunt, John Hagel, Joseph
Hauser, Phillip Heintz, Henry Johanning, Daniel Jung, Edmund Kiel,
Henry Kaffenberger, Charles Kempf, George Lang, Frederick Long-
fritz, William Miller, Martin Miller, Peter Messingslacher, Joseph
Moser, Frederick Newberger, Edmund Needs, Henry Aldach, Freder-
ick Paul, Peter Peifer, Frank Puemple, George Raab, Julius Raab,
Casper Rappinger, Michael Renz, Christopher Reppig, Frederick Runte,
Dominic Ruhstaller, Charles Schinske, Frank Schneider, Oscar Seith,
Henry Neal, John Staab, William Straub, Adalbert Schaefer, Ernest
Schilling, Peter Streuber, Charles Vogt, John Waitzman, Henry Zim_
merman, Michael Zaal, Louis Zagar, Adam Giebe, Henry Rickers,
Henry Lurenkamp.
Transferred, etc.— Sergeants August Kramer, George Seining ; Cor-
porals Sigmund Eicholz, William Geipnian, Thomas Hellieigel ; Pri-
vates Charles Degan, Bernhard Duers, John Schwarz, Adam Scherer,
Jacob Gallinger, Anton Brischler, Joseph Roth.
COMPANY B.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Albert Ritter.
Captain William_Ewald.
Captain John Armon.
First Lieutenant Martin Wauser.
First Lieutenant August Grieff.
Second Lieutenant Albert Traub.
Second Lieutenant Jacob Mark.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Frederick Eberhardt.
Sergeant Austin Dieckman.
Sergeant Lorenz Hissehbeihler.
Sergeant Peter Brinker.
Corporal Lewis Kremer.
Corporal William Reis.
Corporal Peter Hoffman.
Corporal Lorenz Staale.
Corporal Peter Paulhummel.
Corporal Martin Geier.
Corporal Frederick Miller.
PRIVATES.
Michael Arnold, John Agel, Anzelm Anhalt, William Bauer, Jacob
Bayer, Eugene Bruhl, John Brauer, John Beckman, John Borg, Henry
Cron, Henry Elliott, Michael Eplinger, Joseph Fisher, John Fisher,
Valentine Franzsell, Frederick Hoffman, Lorenz Kenner, Peter Krau-
sen, Peter Mattern, Joseph N. Martin, John Mehlheimer, George
Mumme, Sebastian Meyer, Joseph Neithammer, Phillip Pfenning, Lo-
renz Redinger, Frederick Sauer, Frederick Schmalzigang, John Schmitz,
Victor Schneider, William Spengler, Moritz Stabler, John Schroeder,
Jacob Volkneiss, Adam Zeigler, Joseph Zeigler, Leonard Dobmeyer,
John Hark, Bernhard Schmidt, William Zeller, Jacob Stuber, Peter Alex-
ander, John Alexander, John Batz, John Belmer, Gottlieb Beiler, John
Erbe, Henry Hiser, Frederick Holl, Joseph Hummeler, Herman Kier-
stein, John Krause, Bernhard Lohrer, Bernhard Lottberg, John Lam-
meshirt, Casper Meyer, Carl Muller, Frederick Oppermann, Frederick
Remler, Joseph Schmidt, Conrad Waspermann, Nicholas Wickermann,
Phillip Wagner, George Zeltner, Charles Zwangauf, Phillip Zugelhart,
Matthias Zartheit.
Killed in Battle. — Corporal John Shranker; Privates Phillip Fanzell,
John Schneider, Nicholas Weber.
Died. — Privates William Beekman, David Spath.
Transferred. — Privates Conrad Bozer, Anton Brichler, George Doell,
John Glatt, Martin Miller, Frederick Paul, Casper Boppinger, Henry
Reekers, Charles Voight, Edward Arnbruster, Frederick Bebel, Adam
Gebb, Joseph Kuntsli, Peter Rossman, Frederick Radsluff, Adam Roth,
John Schatz, Casper Schier, George Watther.
COMPANY B. (Veteran).
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Frank Birk.
First Lieutenant Christopher Hildebrand.
Second Lieutenant John Huser.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant August Kramer.
Sergeant George Mayer.
Sergeant August Gabe.
Sergeant Herman Weigus.
Sergeant Charles Studier.
Corporal Gustave Haustein.
Corporal Frantz Henbarger.
Corporal Philip Hartin.
Corporal Lorenz Rengel.
Corporal George Weiss.
Corporal John Valentine.
Corporal August Brarin.
PRIVATES.
Franklin Angel, Joseph Brodbeck, Frederick Branch, Joseph Burk-
hard, Philip Bruck, Frederick Bene, Gotlieb Borgman, Lewis Beck,
Christian Borchhard, Henry Burch, Christian Bohling, Lewis Bechman,
Ignatz Bauer, Upton Demeemoss, John Dietz, August Fisher, Charles
Fisher, Charles Herman, George Huber, Anton Harpbrecht, Nicholas
Huber, Adam Herman, John Harter, Valentine Jungman, George
Kratzberg, Frank Lorb, David Kelly, Felix Kistner, William Koehler,
George Locehel, Herman Lehman, Frank Mayer, John Mayer, Christian
Mild, Lewis Martin, John Moehler, Peter Mohn, Joseph Post, Lewis
Plotow, George Pastre, Herman Reichow, Gottlieb Ruoff, Jacob
Roesch, Albert Shultz, Lorenz Stehman, Ignatz Straub, August Smilder,
Antony Seiger, Michael Schoeffer, John Sohvam, Henry Steffen, John
Sutter, William Schmidt, Friederich Vogel, John Weinfelder, Andrew
Wilzenbacher, William Wickenieyer, Jacob Walz, George Bauer,
August Deppe, Englebert Benzinger, Eha Dominionons, Friederich
Kanmerling, Vinvenz Kistner, Leopold Kranskopf, Frederick Mayer,
Michael Reis, Frank Seiger, Joaquin Ruhstaller, Adam Soberer, Joseph
Sohieber, Peter Strawbinger.
Died. — Privates Charles Lipp, Jeremiah Guttbroett.
Privates Frederick Groetsinger, John Muebler.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Matthias Reiching.
Captain Albert Traub.
First Lieutenant August Fix.
First Lieutenant John Roedel.
Second Lieutentant Carlo Piepho.
Second Lieutenant John Lang.
Second Lieutenant Lewis Weitzel.
Second Lieutenant R. M. Gutenstein.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Matthias Arnbruster.
Sergeant Adam Benkert.
Sergeant Ernst Rochwitz.
Sergeant Peter Weibel.
Corporal Martin Lippel.
Corporal Sebastian Latscha.
Corporal Frederick Brenner.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
IIS
PRIVATES.
Michael Barth, Christian Beery, Frederick Babel, Adam Berg, George
Bolter, John Buhler, John Christ, Adam Delman, Henry Dryemgei,
John Ergels, Fredericli Ertz, Adam Geht, Ludwig Gerhadl, Christian
Hebstreath, Ferdinand Hock, Henry Heniminghaus, Henry Kinkier,
Charles Kleppe, Henry Kull, Ludwig Laubert, Louis Lexan, Henry
Lohmeyer, Fritz Loheide, John Meyer, Philip Meyer, Martin Meyer,
George Mack, Franz Manning, Nicholas Rapp, John Schlatter, Chris-
tian Schmidtbeyer, Jacob Schulde, Casper Squier, Frederick Stauffer,
Philip Wrinmer, Ernst Zaeske, Christian Zehdter, Charles Kempt,
William Geipman, Philip Hercher, Adolph Kuball, Henry Bruckmann,
Charles Degan, Ernest Dietz, Jacob Gallinger, John Jones, Henry
Kauffenbeyer, Fritz Neubeyer, Michael Rentz, Christian Reppig, Wil-
William Straub.
Killed in Battle. — Sergeant Mangus Bott; Private Fritzolin Gutswitler.
Missing. — Private Ludwig Haaf.
Died. — Privates Edward Ammon, Charles Dallhammer, Adolph Doer-
ing, Peter Gengnager, Thomas Patton, Gottleib Schuhkraft, William
Wittman.
Privates George Bottel, Adam Baucher, Joseph Klaus, Matthias Doll,
meyer, Philip Doosman, Jacob Demmeyer, John EUenberger, Pankratz
Eberlein, George Francois, Ceorge Hempser, George Hummel, Edward
Huse, Peter Hammel, John Keller, Meinrich Kelling, Bernet Kattlord,
Charles Kopp, Sebastian Letsch, Benjamin Lohrback, Peter Lyndecker,
Charles A. Ludorff, Adam Miller, Matthias Niemeyer, Emil Ohlenroth
John Oppenheimer, Ferdinand Renker, Jacob Sachs, Joseph Seibert,
first, Joseph Seibert, second, August Shieb, Jacob Saarbach, Henry
Surencamp, Martin Thorwalder, Fritz Tobias, Beruh Will, John Wink-
ler, Sebastian Wisch, Adam Zeigler.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Michael Kline, Privates August Ben.
zinger, Andrew Doll, John Dienhardt, Fritz Engelke, Wendelin Fisher^
Charles Gern, Frederick Hagenbuck, Jacob Halbauer, Ludwig Kirch-
hofer, Franz Ladisch, Henry Rath, Joseph Roth.
Veterans. — Sergeant August Kramer ; Corporal Thomas Hellriegel'
Martin Bilber, Jacob DoUman, Henry Saal, John Straab.
COMPANY c. (Veteran Battalion).
CONMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Lieutenant George Lering.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Philip Hercher.
Sergeant Christian Hauer. •
• Sergeant Frank Center.
Corporal Jacob Goetz.
PRIVATES.
Stephen Bueyer, Valentine Cornelius, Henry Dammeyer, Peter Doehm,
John Goephard, Joseph Graf, William Geissman, John V. Hofman
Nicholas Heinrich, Herman Kirchhof, Reinhard Kise, Rudolph Stu!.
dor, John Burkhard, Frank Mund, George Hohenstein, Baptist
Deutschle, Charles Werner, .George Kimmel, John Meikel, John Diem,
Andrew Duerr, Frank Kuffner, Jacob Lattemer, Emanuel Seelos
Adolph Kuball, Henry Hurst, Christian Dabbert.
Transferred. — Sergeant George Rabb, Private Balthasar Mueller.
Died. — Sergeant Peter Borg.
Privates Jacob Bohmen, Ernest Roemler, Augustin Ringelein, Frank
Schmidt, August Schwan.
COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Louis Fey.
First Lieutenant Lanterbache Malte.
First Lieutenant Samuel Rosenthal.
First Lieutenant Deopold Markbreit.
Second Lieutenant Heer Arnold.
Second Lieutenant Gottlieb Hummell.
Second Lieutenant Michael Klein.
Second Lieutenant Michael Schmittheuner..
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Jacob Deep.
Sergeant Herman Steinauer.
Sergeant Henry Weber.
Sergeant Charles Wickenhauser.
Sergeant Albert Jehle.
Corporal John Frey.
Corporal John Diep.
Corporal Adam Lawn.
Corporal Lewis Kuhriel,
Corporal John Duck,
Corporal Henry Elfers.
Corporal William Techudi.
PRIVATES.
John Bittner, Felician Brunner, George Beck, Jacob Blei, August
Benziger, Peter Dimper, Frank A. Eberle, Joseph Fetz, Conrad Gasper,
John Grass, Casper Hick, George Jacob, Adam Jutzi, David Isele,
Jacob Koerkel, Christian Kripper, John G. Krichhofar, Ferdinand
Lehmann, Jacob Lutzel, Christian Meinel, Christian Mair, Ferdinand
MuUer, John Mar.\-, George Peter Oeirel, William Prestenbach, Andrew
Zadenhauer, John Ruteneek, Peter Rossraan, William Rasch, William
Stopburg, John Spaeth, ..Nicholas Schwartz, Ignatz Steinauer, Jacob
Schumacher, Simon Schmidt, John Schuckel; Henry Terheide, John
Weinsstein, Jolin Wohnhas, Peter Zius, Franz Flick, C. Renner, Wm.
Eckerle, E. Erwig, Peter Frey, Michael Fleisch, Conrad Groth, Franz
Graf, Andreas Gradel, Henry Heiser, John Hellwig, Henry Krenz-
mann, Jpseph Lange, John Merig, John Neubacher, William Rhein-
stadt, Frederick Otto Ross, Martin Seibert, Christian Welker, Frede-
rick Wolzbacher, Frederick W. Tellhorster.
Killed in Battle.— Privates Leopold Bauer, Ambrosius Fiedmann,
Rudolf Hauserniann, Jacob Heitz, Philip Zeip.
Died.— Sergeant Robert Simon; Privates Charles Graf, Martin,
Kallin, Jacob Moreland, Philip Sauer, Lorenzo Schmidt.
Discharged.— Corporals Frederick W. Alexander, Otto Mueller;
Privates Rudolph Lrand, John Bruin, Adam Fauth, Jacob Hellwig,
Valentine Jeggle, Joseph Kueenzli, George Matt, Joseph Molinari,
Daniel Pfisler, Ferdinand Radeloff, William Seeger, Theodore Wagner,
Frederick Wenz, Frederick W. Windscher, John Wilk.
Transferred.— First Sergeants Ferdinand Holzer, Henry Raabe,
John S. Schellenbaum ; Privates Joseph Brodbeck, John Deinhard,
Jacob Diehl, George Ehret, Frederick Goetz, John Henle, Franz Fhck,
Louis Koch, Joseph Kauffman, Herman Meyer, Sigmund Moasch,
Joseph Molitor, John Molkmans, John Miller, Herman Roose, Adolph
Schiller, Christian Volper, Frank A. Schneider, Frank Bohland, Bern-
hart Durr, Joseph Hauser, John Hagel, George Lang, Joseph Moser,
Henry Oldach, Peter Peifer, Ernst Roemler, August Ringelien, Domi-
nick Ruhstaller, Henry Zimmerman.
COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Arthur Forbriger.
Captain Edwin Frey.
First Lieutenant Alexander Bohlander.
First Lieutenant John Amrein.
First Lieutenant Conrad Sleicher.
First Lieutenant Michael Kline.
Second Lieutenant Albert Lioman.
Second Lieutenant Louis C. Fintz.
Second Lieutenant Charles Woelfer.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Conrad Bauer.
Sergeant Maxwell Stedenford.
Sergeant Joseph Huber.
Sergeant Henry Schutz.
Sergeant Charles Fuchs.
Corporal John Brunler.
Corporal Louis Metzler.
Corporal Henry Schuchler.
Corporal George P. Schmidt.
Corporal John Hiller.
Corporal Adam Wuest.
PRIVATES.
Philip Bottler, Herman Bohne, Christian Bermith, John Baer, Ernst
Brenligan, William Brunner, Ernst Goelen, Michael Griganius, Chris-
tian Hohn, Frederick Helbring, Bernet Heintz, Joseph Haringer,
George Henzel, Theater Heanker, Andreas Jageman, Herman Jaeger,
Joseph Kauffman, John Killer, Christian Kiehl, Frederick Koeing,
John Leonhart, Henry Meinken, Leopold Meyer, Victor Neubacher,
Michael Offenbacher, Henry Pfeming, William Rudiger, Tobias
Rolher, John Sattler, John Schneider, Frederick Schilling, George
Schmidt, Rudolph Schmidt, Bonafantune Stoeckle, Jacob Schaebel,
Reinhart Sohindeldaker, John Schram, Jacob Theis, Gusjave Utten-
dorfer.
Killed in Battle. — First Sergeant Jacob Fintz; Corporaljoseph Gutz-
willer; Privates Frank Klueber, Ferdinand Krause.
n6
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Died. — Louis Beeker, Benedict Hernick, Frederick Schafer, Frede-
rick Nieman, Charles Winter.
Discharged. — Corporals Henry Conrady, William Hundermark;
Privates Ferdinand Anschutz, Henry G. Benninger, Matthias Dall-
meyer, Henry Eberly, Wendelin Fischer, Frank Geiler, John Kempt-
ner, Charles Loebi.xger, Joseph Meyer, John Neau, Frank Ortman,
Isaiah Roedel, Henry Schwabe, Joseph Schearer, Philip I. Theis, John
Eppinger, Louis Faas, Louis Gerhart, Charles Cross, |ohn Kelch,
Henry Dunk, Gabriel Drescher, Julius L. Frenzel, Charles Feiberg,
Jacob Geuener, George Grabath, Philip Heintz, Frederick Langfritz,
Franz Pumpel, Emanuel Seelas, Adelbert Schafer, Ernst Schilling,
John Peter Struber, George Winter, John Weitzman, Michael Zaal,
Christian Hauer.
COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICEKS.
Captain Henry Sommer.
First Lieutenant Henry Zimmerman.
First Lieutenant Charles Alexander.
First Lieutenant Franz Schmidt.
First Lieutenant Lewis Weitzel,
First Lieutenant Henry Ocker.
Second Lieutenant Martin Hauser.
Second Lieutenant Conrad Schleiher.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant John Schueder.
Sergeant Bernhart Svenker.
Sergeant Michael Walluck.
Corporal John Weber.
Corporal August Dierker.
Corporal Bernhart Vo'gel.
Corporal Joseph Keller.
Corporal Rudolph Renter.
Corporal Frederick Leppe.
PRIVATES.
John Buchler. Gottlieb Dehmeil, Henry Dick, Gottlieb Ebinger,
Andreas Ehman, Herman FrandhoiT, Frederick Foelsch, Jacob Franz-
man, Robert Genge, Lewis Hahn, George Held, George Hertwig, Lewis
John, George Kautzman, Christian KaLser, Jacob Klein, Albert Loop,
Triah Luethy, John L. Mueller, George Muenster, John J. Mueller,
Ferdinand Riedel, Frank Ringer, Frederick Shaefer, Lewis Scharegge,
Christian Schatzman, John Thomas, Michael Verheclig, George Wuen-
ger, Adolphus Wolf, Lewis Woelfer, Matthias Zimmerman, John Zink.
Killed in Battle. — Henry Bettsheider, Eberhard Kreuter, Andrew
Lucas, Christian Loeffler.
Died. — Privates George Bertram, Frederick Huppert, Andrew Her-
hamer, Lewis Lump, Charles Leanian, Lewis Wenz, David Wickers-
himer.
Discharged. — Privates Joseph Derhan, Nicholas Hoeple, Frank
Hanzel, John Hottinger, August Woelfer, Jacob Mueller, William
Holzhuch, Julius Swarzhoff, William Wuerker, Henry Jacoby, John
Roth, Bernhart Lohe, George Rose, George Schaefer, Charles Mueller.
Transferred. — Privates John Brockman, Herman Brunner, Michael
Eslinger, Bernhart Horstman, Herman Zeiler, Adam Auentis, John
Hildebrandt, Frederick Eyle, Franz Hemberger, John Jaegle, Nicholas
Kloch, John Kramer, Christoper Kulhman, John Anton Mueller, John
Rockendorf, John Mennnger.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Tobias Nagal.
First Lieutenant Edwin Frey.
First Lieutenant John Lang.
First Lieutenant Albert Liomin.
Second Lieutenant Emil Wilde.
Second Lieutenant Ferdinand Holyer.
Second Lieutenant George Benzing.
Second Lieutenant Herman Raengsleyer.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
Sergeant Balthaser Strassal.
Sergeant Frank Leophold.
Sergeant Phillip Weichrich.
Sergeant George Lehmeig.
PRIVATES.
George Auker, Frederick Blackman, Langen Behringer, Peter
Claude, Wilhelm Engel, John Forsbach, Gustave Frey, Charles Har-
rold, Jacob Haag, John Halm, Wilhelm Jordon, Frederick Krebs,
Theodore Keek, John Libbe, Henry Maassberg, Wilhelm Masser,
Wilhelm Paulisch, John Rengel, Charles Reineald, Gerhardt Schlaffe,
Valentine Schlasser, Joseph Strobel, Frederick Wolhile, Nicholas West-
erman.
Killed in Battle. — Christian Eisenhardt, Michael Hildebrandt, John
Kling, Joseph Lang, Frederick Maassberg, Jacob Stein, Charles Schroe-
der.
Died. — John Kramer, Frederick Kern, Charles Thiele.
Discharged. — Privates Charles Bolkhardt, Charles Cross, Daniel
Chautemp, John Depp, Charles Ensfeld, John Huger, Frederick
Kraub, Henry Lorenz, John Mainhardt, Phillip Jacob Peter, Frederick
Scharlack, Uriah Stahl, Ignatz Schneider, Nicholas Schwarzman,
Christian Stumpf, Theodore Weigers, Phillip Wegler, Frank Wolf,
Henry Witz.
Transferred.— Privates Bernhard Insferd, Diedrich Hessecker, John
Happel, Frederick Kaifer, Frederick Reip, Bernhart Schmidt, Adam
Hamlin, John Huser, Jacob Bohmen, Christian Burkhardt, Baptiss
Deutshele, George Huber, Felix Kistner, Christian Mild, Joseph G.
Prose, Igmy Straub, August Schnider, Adam G. Scherer, Frank Seeger,
Anton Seiger, John Winfelder.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICEKS.
Captain Edith Bernhardt.
Captain August Fix.
First Lieutenant Charles Drach.
First Lieutenant Herman Guthardt.
Second Lieutenant Frank Schmidt.
Second Lieutenant Henry Raabe.
Second Lieutenant George Kappes.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Charles Blittersdorf.
Sergeant William Grossman.
Sergeant Charles Falk.
Sergeant Clemens Schimmel.
Sergeant Ferdinand Erdman.
Corporal Ferdinand Hilderbrandt.
Corporal Alexander Arnold.
Corporal Valentine Hauck.
Corporal Christian Kahle.
Corporal George Mohr.
Corporal John Nenninger.
Corporal Charles Gfroerer.
PRIVATES.
Theodore Amett, Frederick Ahlers, Joseph Abath, Adam Anntius,
Adrew Bracknuling, Joseph Baumler, Lorenz Bridenstein, Edward
Britterle, Frederick Benneirtz, Andrew Byzrus, Adam Beck, Ernst
Dienst, Michael Ergert, Frederick Flohr, Johji Graff, George Geier,
Julius Grossman, John Gass, Adolph Guenther, Christian Hoffman,
John Hardle. Henry Jacob, John Kissel, Charles Liebold, Phillip Lin-
denfelser, Phillip Lipps, John Mueller, John A. Miller, Adam Mueller,
Charles Perschmann, Gottlieb Rueff, Louis Seeger, John Schluter, John
Schlup, Frederick Schmidtheuner, Jacob Schmelzle, George Stretz,
John Seller, Jacob Sohittenhelm, Ferdinand Storr, Frederick Utrecht,
Gregor Wolf, Henry Wilier.
Killed in Battle. — Corporal Frederick Schneider; Privates Frederick
Brandt, Louis Klapper, John Jacob, Frederick Noerthen.
Died. — Corporal Christian Ballan; Privates William Feklenberg,
Engelbert Winkler.
Transferred. — First Sergeant Conrad Schleicher; Corporals R.
Gurenstein, Ludwig Hohnstedt, Henry Oker; Privates Phillip Arnold,
John Adel, Joseph Deyer, John Klein, Charles Kleppe, William Moser,
Frederick Meyer, Edward Schombard, George Schulpraft, John
Schnell, Reinhart Schindeldecker, Herman Angert, Stephen Bueger,
Elias L. Bechman, Ignatz Bauer, Upton Demoss, Henry Dammier,
Joseph Graf, John Geephart, Valentine J. Hoffman, Gustave Haustein,
David Kelly, Henry C. Steffen, John Schramm, Charles Schwicke,
Andrew Witzenbacher.
COMPANY I.
COMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Maurice Wesolouski.
Captain Frederick Weising.
First Lieutenant Stanislaus Gumwald.
First Lieutenant Arnold Heer.
J. J. Schellenbaum.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OIHO.
117
Second Lieutenant Anton Gradzike.
Second Lieutenant Charles Miller.
Second Lieutenant Edward Otto.
Seeond Lieutenant Ernst Kudell.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant Henry Mathews.
Sergeant Lorenz Schelger.
Sergeant Joseph Lippert.
Corporal Joseph Spinner.
Corporal John Fuzlien.
Corporal John Scherer.
Corporal John Frizlein.
Corporal Louis Haas.
Corporal Michael Goodling.
Corporal Henry Bath.
PRIVATES.
John Braun, Henry Brinkman, Rudolph Buhler, Federick Dieterlen
Andreas Doll, George Enth, Frank Fieke, John Fisher, Herman Gott-
berg, Charles Haack, William Hanenshild, Valentine Hanenstein,
Henry Haming, Conrad Hillenbrand, Bernhart Horstman, August
Klausmeier, Louis Link, Joseph Loth, John Luttman, Herman Meyer,
Frederick Miller, John Molke, Frederick NoUkemfer, Herman Nienierg,
Henry Numberger, Gottlieb Oberfall, Adam Roth, John Rudolph, John
Schwartz, August Steinboills, Casper Stein, Frank Schmidt, John Scheu-
rer, Charles Weise, John Zaigler.
Killed in Battle. — Corporal Engleberth Bush.
Died. — Privates Ernest Guenther, Charles Kern, George Walter,
Joseph Haight, Anthony Uzouwski.
Discharged. — Sergeant Ernst Heller; Privates Joseph Brewer, Henry
Kohler, Frederick Brick, John Schmidt, Gustave Rosenberg, Frederick
Allbraicht, Christian Voelpel, Joseph Molitor, Frank Meyer, Peter
Buthner, Conrad Roth, Gustave Hennish, Jacob Diehl Herman EfBng,
Henry Miller, Charles Kudell, Joseph Rupp, Henry Kaiser, Louis
Brockman.
Transferred. — Privates Charles Dahlhammer, William Engel, John
Huber, Louis Haaf, Frederick Herrman, John Haas, Frederick Napo-
leon, Frederick Reuker, Moritz Stegle, Peter Claude, Ale.\ander Lands-
berg, John Adel, Conrad Meller, Frank W. Argel, Valentine Cornehus,
August Fisher, Frederick Groetzinger, Anton Harbrecht, Adam Herr-
man, Leopold Kramphoff, Frank Kuffer, Charles Lipp, Louis Martin,
John Miller, Louis Plotton, Joachim Ruhstaller.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain George Sommers.
Captain Lautarbach Matte.
Captain J. A. Heer.
First Lieutenant Phillip Wick,
First Lieutenant Carlo Peipho.
First Lieutenant Lewis C. Frintz.
Second Lieutenant Likas Shwank.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Neubacher.
Second Lieutenant Louis Gehrhard.
Second Lieutenant Herman Kreningsberger.
Second Lieutenant John Eppinger.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Robert Weusland.
Sergeant John Goettler.
Sergeant Conrad Belzing.
Sergeant William Woehle.
Sergeant Jacob Halbauer.
Corporal Charles Bloessing.
Corporal Louis Schwartz.
Corporal Frank Reinhard.
Corporal Christian Heldwin. '~
Corporal John Kuhule.
Corporal Conrad Hoehn.
PRIVATES.
Henry Anlfus, Jacob Baly, John Bauer, Frederick Bewerkellen, John
Berlsch, Jacob Breitmeir, Bernhart Brush, Robert Slwert, Jacob Gerein-
ten, Frederick Goetz, John Hildebrand, Casper Hoeffling, Anton Huber,
Casper Jochin, Nicholas Klock, Frederick Kop, Christian Kuhlman,
Frederick Kuhlman, John Muller, Sigismund Moasch, John Malkmus,
Herman Rose, Jacob Selb, John Sieman, Bernhart Schmidt, Frederick
Schmidt, Joseph Tlamsa, Frederick Trimernier, Casper Voight, Lotzias
Vanderberge, Lucius Votz, George Welmer, George Weber, Frederick
Wurstybother, Bernhart Yiseuis, Frederick Sckottmiller.
Killed in Battle. — First Sergeant Frederick Kuhlmann; Corporal
Frank Miller; Privates John Adam Keller, Joseph Leipier, John
Schnell, August Zoeller.
Died — Privates John Gottschalk, Herman Saltter, John Stukler, '
Joseph Schwetzer.
Discharged. — Sergeant Louis Harnold ; Corporal Franz Dacker ;
Phillip Arnold, John Arnold, William Kuchmstedt, Ferdinand Rich-
mher, William Na.^el, Charles Fix, Charles Fontimier, Frederick Eych,
Michael Slack, Jacob Stoll, John Roggendorf.
Transferred. —Privates Peter Buttner, Englehardt Busch, Henry Bell-
ing, August Klausmier, Henry Brinkman, Henry Jacob, Henry Diebel,
Herman Effing, John Fisher, John Grossman, John Graf, Michael
Gretting, Nicholas Hoepler, Joseph Hart, Bernhart Hoffman, Vuter Hoff-
man, Nicholas K.auffman, Bernhart Lohrer, Frederick Muller, John
Maier, John Molker, Frederick NoUkamper, Henry Rosenberg, August
Steinboch, George Schneider, Charles Spoettle, fgnatz Steinman, Fred-
erick Story, Nicholas Westraan, George Hohenstein, John Harter,
Herman Kirhshop, Reinhard Kist, William Koehler, Jacob Salterman,
Balthasar Muller, Peter Mohr, Englebert Penzinger, Jacob Roesch,
John Suiter, William Schmidt, Frank Schmidt, William Wickemeyer,
Frederick Schottmiller; Corporals John Meikel, Peter Doehn.
THIRTY-FOURTH OHIO INFANTRY.
This was raised in the summer of 1861, and received
at first the name of "Piatt Zouaves," in compliment to its
colonel, Abraham S. Piatt. Its first service was in West
Virginia, where it fought a battle ten days after arrival,
near Chapmanville, defeating a Virginia regiment. The
rest of the autumn and winter it was on guard and scout-
ing duty. In May, 1862, it took part in the battle of
Princeton, losing several men. September loth, while
holding an outpost at FayetteviUe, with the Thirty-sev-
enth Ohio, it was attacked by a large rebel force, and
beat them off, but with heavy loss. It was then on garri-
son duty until May, 1863, when it was furnished with
horses and became a regiment of "mounted rifles." It
was in the cavalry expedition against Wytheville, in which
it bore a distinguished part. Two-thirds of the regiment
"veteraned," in January, 1864, and took full part in the
movements of that year in the valley of the Shenandoah
and elsewhere in Virginia. It was in Sheridan's famous
batde of Winchester; and was captured at Beverly by
General Rosser, January 11, 1865, a few weeks after
which the remnant of the old Thirty-fourth was consoli-
dated with the Thirty-sixth Ohio at Cumberland, Mary-
land, taking the name of the latter, and losing its identity
thenceforth.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Austin T. Miller.
First Lieutenant John Grace.
Second Lieutenant Thomas Lawler.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant James Shiels.
Sergeant James Colter.
Sergeant Patrick Cassidy.
Sergeant James Burns.
Sergeant William Fitzpatrick.
Corporal William Robbins.
Corporal James Ryan.
Corporal John Cassidy.
Corporal John Fritz.
Corporal George Guy.
Corporal John Gorman.
Corporal Lawrence Powers.
Corporal William Sloan.
PRIVATES.
John J. Adams, Jesse H. Bloom, Willliam Burke, George W. Blair,
James Burns, Barney Brenner, Daniel Barrett, Owen Bonner, Herbert
ii8
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Breman, William Campbell, Jasper Creekbaum, Michael Coleman,
Hugh Callaghan, Charles Cope, Henry Crossman, Robert Carr, Peter
Coney, David Coleman, Thomas Carr, Cornelius Desmond, Samuel M.
Espy, Boyce Egan, James W. Evans, Patrick Flynn, Fenton Flanagan,
John Fritz. James Farmington, William F. Fitzpatrick, Robert Finney,
Sylvester Foy, John Gorman, George Guy, Joseph Grimes, Henry Gol-
pen, Barney Harkins, Arthur Halpin, Michael Hines, Matthew Har-
rington, Harvey Harris, Thomas Hackett, Josiah Jones, Gabriel Ken-
nelly, Jacob Knoblow, Michael Long, Jonathan Lawrence, Joseph
Maloney, Patrick Moore, William M. Martin. Patrick Mara, Patrick
McGovern, James McKerne, Patrick McNaraara, John Murphy,
Michael Lawler, John Laughlin, John Mason, James Mcintosh, Wil-
liam McElfresh, Williarh T. Miller, James Nengle, Norvell Osborne,
Michael O'Neal, William Price, Samuel Prather, Joseph Pierce, James
A. Patten, Lawrence Powers, George Patterson, John S. Post, William
Robbins, Patrick Ratliffe, Washington C. Reeves, James Ryan, John
Reeves, Thomas Ryan, Benjamin Reeker, Henry W. Rockwell, Martin
Rea, Daniel Robinson, Patrick Ryan, William H. Sutherland, Wesley
Smitson, William Sloan, James Shafer, Patrick Sullivan, John Ste-
phens, Washington Vennon, Robert Vance, George K. Weit, Robert
Williams.
THIRTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY.
This command dates from August, 1861. Its first
colonel was Captain (afterward General) George Crook,
of the regular army. Before he took command, six com-
panies made a vigorous scout after guerillas in West Vir-
ginia. During the winter, at Summerville, the regiment
suffered greatly from sickness, having nearly fifty deaths
by disease. May 23, 1862, it aided effectively in repell-
ing an attack upon Lewisburgh. . In August, it was sent
to join the army of the Potomac; was in the second
battle of Bull Run, and the battles of South Mountain
and Antietam. After the latter it was commanded, until
his resignation in April, 1863, by Colonel E. B. Andrews,
a prominent professor in Marietta college. In January,
1863, it joined the army of the Cumberland at Nashville,
and participated in the battles at and preceding Chicka-
mauga, where it lost very heavily. It also won the right
to inscribe "Mission Ridge" upon its banners. Returning
to Virginia it participated in a number of minor actions,
was in the severe engagement at Barryville, September,
3d, in other actions on the 19th and 22d, and in the bat-
tle of Winchester, October 19th. After the merging of
the Thirty-fourth in it, the consolidated regiment served
without much fighting in northern Virginia until July 22,
1865, when it was mustered out of service and returned
to Ohio.
THIRTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY (Veteran)
COMPANY A.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Corporal James K. Shaffer.
PRIVATES.
William Brunaugh, Cornelius, Bonlevare Leonidas Bonlevare, Wilson
Donhara, George Ewing, Albert Fagan, William Johnson, Henry Long,
Samuel Medcalf, James Ryan, Thomas Thompson.
COMPANY B.
PRIVATES.
Charles Taucher, Elias S. West.
COMPANY C.
PRIVATES.
Thomas Flanagan, Martin Graves, Thomas Hayward, Lewis A.
McKibben, Wesley McKibben, John Mack, John Walsh.
COMPANY E.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Higginbotham, Abraham Miller.
COMPANY F.
PRIVATES.
Frank M. Blessing, William H. Crooks, William Evans, Alvin Nei-
dugor, Jacob Smith.
COMPANY G.
Corporal Philip Rich, Private Martin Schwartz.
COMPANY H.
PRIVATES.
Charles Crook, John Halley.
COMPANY I.
Sergeant E. M. Smith.
COMPANY K.
Private Manasseh Wood.
THIRTY-SEVENTH OHIO INFANTRY. — COMPANY A.
Private George L. Achemor.
COMPANY H.
Private Wendlin Hauselmann.
COMPANY K.
Private Victor Frey.
THIRTY-NINTH OHIO INFANTRY.
The Thirty-ninth rendezvoused at Camp Colerain in
July, 1861, Seven companies were here mustered into
the service, July 31st; three days after, the regiment
marched to Camp Dennison, where the remainder were
mustered in. It was the first Ohio regiment to join
General Fremont's forces in Missouri, where it went on
guard-duty in early September, along the North Missouri
railroad. Five companies marched with General Sturge's
to the relief of Lexington, but did not reach it in time,
though moving rapidly and suffering severely. No-
vember 9, it joined the army of General Hunter at
Springfield, marched with it to Sedalia and Syracuse,
where it remained through December and January. The
next month, a long and peculiarly severe march was made
to St. Louis, whence the regiment was taken to Com-
merce, to join the army of General Pope. It took part
in the operations by which New Madrid and Island
Number 10 were captured, and in April joined General
Halleck's army at Hamburgh Landing, on the Tennessee
river. It was engaged in many skirmishes, losing con-
siderably, until the evacuation of Corinth, which it was
one of the first regiments to enter. A few weeks were
then spent in guarding railroads. It took part in the
battle of luka and in the pursuit of the enemy, returning
to Corinth in time to engage in the battle of October 3
and 4. In early November, it joined the army under
General Grant, at Grand Junction, Tennessee, and was
much engaged in skirmishes and reconnoissances. De.
cember i8th, it moved by rail to Jackson, Tennessee, to
check Forrest's movements in the rear of Grant. On
the thirty-first, Forrest was met and defeated at Parker's
cross roads, when the regiment moved back by very
severe marching to Corinth. It remained there till April,
1863, when it joined General Dodge's expedition to the
Tuscumbia valley. In May it removed to Memphis,
and in October to Prospect, Tennessee, where, Decem-
ber 27th, five hundred and thirty-four of its men were re-
mustered as veterans, receiving the usual furlough for
thirty days. Again assembling at Camp Dennison, it
received a reinforcement of one hundred and twelve re-
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
119
emits. Its subsequent service was with the Fourth di-
vision of the Sixteenth corps, under General Dodge, in
northern Alabama and the campaigns through Georgia
and the Carolinas.
It was in the actions at Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain,
Nicojack Creek, and Atlanta, and the pursuit of Hood as
far as Galesville, Alabama, whence it returned to Marietta,
where, in November, it was paid for the first time in nine
months and thoroughly re-equipped. It 'did effective
work destroying railroads during the march to the sea.
At Pocotaligo, South Carolina, it received two hnndred
and four recruits. During the march of Sherman's army
northward, it was engaged at Rivers' bridge, on the
Salkehatchie, at Cheraw, and at Bentonville. The march
to Washington city and the grand review were passed
without special incident. The regiment was mustered
out of service at Louisville, July 9, 1865. Its record is
considered highly honorable, in that it gave to the veteran
organization more men than any other regiment from
Ohio, and never once turned its back upon the enemy.
Its chaplain, the first year of its service, was the famous
Sunday-school missionary. Rev. B. W. Chidlaw, who did
much to give the regiment character for religion and
temperance. Bible readings and prayer regularly char-
acterized the dress parade; and a "Christian Brother-
hood" and temperance society were maintained by the
regiment, including, it is said, almost every member of
company K.
FIELD AND STAFf.
Colonel John Groesbeck.
Lieutenant Colonel Albert W. Gilbert.
Major Edward Noyes.
Chaplain B. W. C. Widlaw.
Suigeon Oliver W. Nixon.
-Assistant Surgeon Thomas W. McAethur.
Sergeant Major Henry A. Babbitt.
COMPANY A.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Christian A. Moyan.
First Lieutenant Willard P. Stoms.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Daniel Weber.
Sergeant John B. Ryan.
Sgereant Frank Fortman.
Sergeant Eli G. Vincent.
Sergeant Horace G. Stoms.
Corporal Joseph Pancoast.
Corporal Benjamin Miller.
Corporal Alfred Carle.
Corporal Andrew Vincent.
Corporal John Leach.
Corporal Charles Richards.
Corporal Palmer Holland.
Corporal Edwin McCollough.
Musician Jackson White.
Musician John Whetstone.
PRIVATES.
John W. Andrews, James Baker, Josiah Bartlett, Robert Bollman,
Joseph Bowman, Frank Bowman, Patrick O'Brian, William H, Brown,
George Benson, Oliver Brown, David Carle, Frank Clements, Spencer
Cooper, Oliver G. Coffin, Algomah Cooley, George Close, Charles
Emery, John German, Hamilton J. Gregg, Antone Gardner, Ludwig
Griess, Thomas Hiiie, Thomas A. Hays, William Hobson, James
Hunter, Jasper Keeler, Sohn Langsdon, John Lanyan, John Manser,
Levi E. Marsh, John W. Masterson, William May, Thomas G.
Mears' Joseph H. Menke, John W. Miller, George Miller, Nathan
Netterfield, James O' Neil, Edmund Pancoast, Henry Peck, George W.
Kyan, Andrew Robinson, David F. Silver, Florence D. Simpson,
James Smith, Benjamin Smith, Jacob Spinning, James Tate, Isaac
Taylor, Homer Turrell, Andrew Wachsteter, Oscar Warnick, Robert
M. C. Watson, Andrew Wateman, John S. Willey, Frederick Hoes-
man.
COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Lieutenant John S. Hooker.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant John D, Holcomb.
Sergeant William N. Chapman.
Sergeant William G. Feybeyer.
Corporal John S. Lowe.
Corporal Jeremiah Hale.
Corporal Uriel B. Chambers.
Musician John Hall.
PRIVATES.
William Armstrong, William W. Berry, Ale.xis Brown, David Beyert,
George Bermond, William H. Carpenter, George Collins, Martin V. B.
Clark, John Carter, George Crain, Patrick Downey, Frank Deitz, Wil-
liam H. Ferrill, Martin Fleig, Charles Gautier, John Gorman, Flavius J.
Gorling, David Hailgarder, Oscar Hotaling, William D. Harwood,
Abram Hart, John Jones, Nathan Lynn, William L. Miller, John Mor-
ton, William Mortimer, Andrew B. Mallott, George W. McKane,
James Palmer, Nathan Purdy, James A. Quigley, John Rouscher, Jo-
seph W. Rice, Joseph Rittenhouse, Charles Richardson, John Sweeny,
William Sheets, Richard Snyder, John Winnings, Henry Westerman,
Hewson Williams, William H. Williams, Joseph D. Weaver.
COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
First Lieutenant Ethan O, Hurd.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant Henry Holland.
Corporal Caspar Kraus.
Corporal Charles Lindenstruth.
Corporal Barney Schulze.
PRIVATES.
Frederick Appeiius, John Augst, Fidel Baschnagel, Joseph Basch-
nagel, Joseph Deschamp, Louis Dhorn, Christian Daniels, Joseph Daub,
Louis Griep, Christian Geiges, John Hoy, William Hangs, Michael
Rattler, Roman Heiberger, Matthias Isele, Joseph Miller, Anton Wein-
shot, Charles Mavers, Parker D'OrviUe, August Simon, Theodore
SchuUer, Jacob Storm, Theobald Schwem, Henry Schulthenry, Mat-
thias Schmit, Jacob Spinner, Valentine Theabold, Henry Westman,
Hewson Williams, June Weaver, Simon August, William H. Williams,
Hubert Zeien.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain James W. Pomeroy.
First Lieutenant William H. Lathrop.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant William H. Williams.
Sergeant Wuriahar Holfner.
Sergeant George W. Staufford.
Sergeant David Sypher.
Sergeant William Auschute.
Corporal William Haller.
Corporal William R. Beebe.
Corporal Nicholas Maringer.
Corporal Paul Goudy.
Corporal Aaron L. Hopper.
Corporal Isaac N. Girlett.
Corporal James A. Smith.
Corporal William H. H. Yancey.
PRIVATES.
Steven Aarnot, David Alston, Charles Brown, Peter Brown, John M.
Butler; Frank Bruner, John C. Bellman, John H. Boekamp, John C.
Coleman, Henry C. Copas, James Cuningan, Thomas L. C. Casey,
Henry C. Covek, Thomas E. Dean, Noah Frazee, Matthias Fry, Solo-
mon Foster, Edward Ferden, Peter Grover, Joseph Holland, John
Idone, James W. Jones. Francis M. Kaebor, Edward Kavanan, Rein-
hart Kleinheim, Matthias Kuhn, James Love, Thomas P. Lloyd, Pat-
rick McGuire, Bernard McLaughlin, Charles R. Mayhew, Henry A.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Matson, Richard Owens, Robert S. Pomeroy, Janies Priedville, James
Palmer, Williams Panneal, Joseph Reinhart, Francis Rahshopf, Mich-
ael Renty, Emil Schmidt, Isasa F. Seal, Nicholas Shean, Michael
Schwab, William Schumtler, George W. Summerfield, Lemuel Stevens,
John Sharp, Kasper Stang, Richard A. Taylor, Alexander D. Vaughn,
Joseph Weaver, William Snyder, Lawrence Winters, Thomas Williams,
John D. Witterbauld, John Wilking, Lewis Pfaff, Amborse Bickeil,
John Rantz, George Weinnaman, Henry Baker, Philip Wilking, Chris-
tian Menster, Frederick Every, Jacob Henry, Eepple Valentine, Henry
Leinhard, Henry Lenige, Jacob Lancel, Henry Crooker, Lewis Shaw,
John Shelley, William Seals, Henry Gableman, Abraham Hopper,
John W. Johnston, Thomas Alfred, John Cooke, John Helfrich.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICEKS.
First Lieutenant Charles Y, Sedani.
Second Lieutenant Harlan A. Edwards.
FORTY-SEVENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
The formation of the companies of this regiment was
begun very early; but the old rule of the regular army,
that a full company must be raised before the men can
be mustered, hindered its organization. Hon. Charles
F. Wilstach, since mayor of Cincinnati, lent his energies
to its formation, and it was known from him as the
"Wilstach regiment." July 29th, companies A and B
were mustered in, and the remainder, of the regiment,
August 13th. It was a cosmopolitan command, thirteen
nationalities being represented in it, though six compa-
nies were composed mostly of Americans, and the re-
maining four of Germans. Frederich Poschner, jr., an
ex-Prussian officer and Hungarian revolutionist, became
its colonel. It joined the little army of Rosecrans in
West Virginia in August, and made an exhausting march
of eighteen miles the first afternoon. At Bulltown the
Forty-seventh was brigaded with the Ninth and Twenty-
eighth Ohio, in Colonel R. L. McCook's "Bully Dutch
brigade." All the regiment, except company B (left in
garrison at Sutton), took part in the battle of Carnifex
Ferry. An extremely exposed and inclement encamp-
ment on Big Lewell mountain followed, but it was by
and by in better quarters at New Market, where it sus-
tained a ^severe bombardment, during four days, from
Floyd's rebel batteries. The Forty-seventh was here
almost continually engaged in skirmishing with the rebels.
After Floyd's retreat it went into winter quarters on
Gauley mountain. September 19th, three companies, in
command of Lieutenant Colonel Elliott, moved to Cross
Lanes and spent some months in breaking up guerilla
bands. December 5th, the regiment was reunited at
Gauley mountain, and passed the remainder of the win-
ter building fortifications, except in January, when it took
part in ajsuccessful expedition against the enemy at Lit-
tle Lewell mountain. In May four companies, with
some cavalry, made another very fortunate raid at Lewis-
burgh. At Meadow Bluffs the Twenty-seventh with the
Twenty-sixth and Forty-fourth Ohio, formed the third
provisional brigade of the Kenawha division. June 23d
it forced General Loring from Monroe county, Virginia,
to retire to Salt Pond mountain, and captured large
amounts of stores. This march of ninety miles in the
heat of summer, occupied but three days, and was very
hard on the force, many of which were prostrated with
sunstroke and exhaustion. Various operations against the
guerillas and for other purposes consumed the months
till the retreat to Gauley bridge in September, when the
regiment was largely instrumental in saving the Federal
forces from capture. December 30th it was embarked
for Memphis. Here it was placed in the Third brigade,
Second division. Thirteenth corps, and joined the expedi-
tion against Vicksburgh. May 19th and 22d it was in
the impetuous assault on Cemetery Hill and lost heavily.
During most of the siege its camp was only three hun-
dred yards from the main line of the enemy, and the
pickets were so close they could almost bayonet each
other. After the city was taken the regiment aided in
the pursuit of Johnson's force, in the capture of Jackson,
and in the destruction of the fortifications and railways
about that city. It returned with its corps to Memphis
the latter part of September, and was started for Corinth
October 9th, as train guard. Shortly thereafter it moved
near Chattanooga, and was engaged upon the extreme
left in the battle of Chickamauga. It then marched to
the relief of Burnside at Knoxville, scantily clothed and
fed, many marching shoeless over the frozen ground and
leaving their blood in their tracks. January 30, 1864,
it was sent in an expedition against Rome, Georgia, and
had a spirited skirmish. At Larkin's Landing, the next
month, three-fourths of the men re-enlisted, and it thus
became a veteran regiment, was mustered as such March
6th, and took its thirty days' furlough, arriving at Cincin-
nati on the 2 2d. By May 3d it was again at the front,
this time at Stevenson, Alabama, from which it moved in
a few days to the Atlanta campaign. In this it partici-
pated in the affairs at Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Kings-
ton, Dallas, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Kenesaw,
and Ezra Church. It was in the pursuit of Hood to the
rear of Atlanta, upon which it was joined by four hun-
dred conscripts and substitutes ; was in the famous march
to the sea, and at the capture of Fort McAlister, in which
its colors were the first to be planted on the works; took
part in the occupation of Savannah, the march through
the Carolinas, and the great review at Washington. It
was then ordered to Arkansas, and served till August
nth, when it was mustered out, but not paid off and dis-
charged until August 24, 1866, when it had served four
years, two months, and nine days, and campaigned
through all the Star States except Missouri, Florida and
Texas.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel Frederick Poschner.
Lieutenant Colonel Lyman S. Elliott.
M.ajor Augustus C. Parry.
Adjutant John G. Deerbeck.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Captain Samuel L. Hunter.
First Lieutenant Lewis D. Graves.
Second Lieutenant John W. Duichemin.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant John H. Brown.
Sergeant Hiram Durrell.
Sergeant ElishaJ. Kneeland.
Sergeant George W. Perphater.
Sergeant John Turner.
Corporal Alexander Nesmith.
Corporal John W. A'laxfield.
Corporal Claude Baker.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Corporal Albert Lann.
Corporal Jerry Miller.
Corporal William Everson.
Corporal Michael Haumer.
Corporal George Wisbey.
Drummer Enos Anderson.
Fifer Cortland Rapp.
Wagoner John Breckenridge.
PRIVATES.
Frank Abbey, George Bower, John Bechler, Robert M. Burnard,
Zachariah Bermann, Julius Jennetts, David G. Brookman, Ceorge H,
Brown, James Clark, James Cope, John Cook, Morris Davis, Henry
Duverge, Charles Dagner, Jacob Fiechle, Frederick Graanoyel, Joel
Grimm, George Geiger, Louis Hener, Daniel Hessel, Charles W. Hos-
ley, William Henderson, William Harrison, Samuel Johnston, Charles
J. Jackson, Jacob Knecht, Daniel Kline, Clem Lawrence, Jacob Lep-
pert, Joseph Levens, Michael Long, Alonzo Mateer, William McAllis-
ter, James Melvine, Arthur McDonnell, Edward Morin, Lewis Miller,
William Nocker, Charles Robinson, Alexander Ravie, Matthew Rhen-
aker, Surfein Reif, August H. Seibel, Ezekiel Stewart, Henno Seidel,
Louis Schottinger, Charles Stewart, Henry Schuske, Henry Schneider,
Christopher Smith, Thomas W. Spencer, William Tucker, Joseph
Foitch, Frank Vandame, Jacob Whitsel, Henry Weber, Henry Wed-
dendorf, George Walters, George Wisler, Frank White, Benjamin F.
Wallace, William H, Wright, John Walken, George Young.
COMPANY C.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Alexander Froelich.
First Lieutenant John G. Dierbeck.
NON-COMMISSrONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Felix Wagner.
Sergeant Louis C. Koehl.
Sergeant August Hund.
Sergeant Adolph Ahlers.
Sergeant Jonas Meyer.
Corporal Henry Schroeder,
Corporal William Cross.
Corporal John H. Stegmann.
Corporal Ehrnard Kupfer.
Corporal John Weil.
Corporal Julius Foerster.
Corporal Alfred Pels.
Corporal Bantalion Nutischer.
Fifer William Buckhaus.
Drummer Frederick Schmidt.
Wagoner Anton Rothers.
PRIVATES.
Benjamin Avermaat, Hermann Ahlensdorf, Henry Asgelmeyer,
Frederick Ackermann, Thomas Baer, John Bruckers, Theodore Binder,
Alonzo Brown, Henry Braun, John Bohlinger, John Becker, Reinhold
Berndt, Gottlieb Berndt, Martin Cross, John R. Craig, Frederick Ger-
lack, Jacob Goebel, Louis Giranr, Carper Huber, L. Hammer, Mat-
thias Hunninger, Casper Hoffling, Louis Hinke, Peter Helbriegel,
Conrad Hering, Friedrich Hoffman, Btasius Hecht, Henry Jacke,
Adam Jebeyahn, Peter Jenrivein, Charles Holb, William Maesemeyer,
John Knapp, Charles Kohlbrandt, Victor Koeht, Anton Kern, Charles
Luderig, Emil Lesker, Gustav Lellman, John Baptist Lieb, Friedrich
Mesker, Frederick Mossman, Louis Muller, Hermann Morath, Louis
Mund, Joseph Maus, Jacob Ottlieb, John Rattermann, Philip Roth,
Joseph Rom, Samuel Stillmacher, Ernst Schuller, Charles Schmidt,
Jacob Schneider, Frederick Schumacker, Jacob Sprengart, Louis
Schmidt, George Stoly, Charles Schub, Bernhart Siener, Jacob Theil-
maun, Robert Williams, William Wiggermann, Clem Willenberg.
Private John Bowen.
COMPANY F.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Valentine Rapp.
Lieutenant Isidore Wonns.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant William H. Kor.
Sergeant Samuel F. Campbell.
Sergeant Lewis Brown.
Sergeant Ferdinand Schwecke.
Sergeant Jacob Kamerer.
Corporal George Wedemezer.
Corporal Frederick Hoff.
Corporal Valentine Camerer.
Corporal Charles Jeckel.
Corporal Nicholas Kraft.
Corporal August Scheiss.
Corporal James Archibald.
Corporal William Simbruger.
Drummer John Loth.
Fifer Theodore Weegers.
Wagoner Jacob Mitter.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Berdell, Henry Brokers, Charles Bondits, August Beverman,
John Blohm, Herrmann Bercker, Anthony Bechtolsheimer, William
Cope, Albert Crest, Thomas Dangelmeier, Frederick Dechhaut, George
Dorgens, John Denbler, Frank Englehart, Weldi Tidell, Adam Fres-
bom, Henry W. Gott, Francis Gyler, John Gleason, William Hartig,
Henry Hoffman, Jacob Hotzbiner, Henry Heitkamp, Peter Hahler,
Barney Hopping, Henry Hoddle, Franklin B. Kline, Philip Kausler,
Frederick Kerstuer, Ludwig Kemmer, Charles Kuhl, William King,
Louis Remmerg, Henry Klapp, Charles F. Konig, John Lerhart, Jo-
seph Long, Frederich Lepier, Caspar Lier, John Leopold, Hugh Mc-
Cord, George Myer, Frank Mitter, George H. Mitter, Frederick
Pfeiffer, Adam Rengler, Henry Rickway, Charles Rottman, Henry Rie-
meyer,. Jacob Schram, Joseph Schmit, Adam Schneider, Joseph
Schmidt, Louis Schoeffer, John Shassel, Adam Schwarr, Edward
Schmidt, William Stener, John Simon, Charles Schock, George Thomp-
son, David Tucker, Henry Tunemann, John Wymer, John Weidinger,
Peter Wettschein, Henry Wendell, Henap Welch.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Charles Helmerich.
Lieutenant William Ducebeck.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant George Zeigler.
Sergeant Jacob Wetterer.
Sergeant Henry Lettmann.
Sergeant Gottfried Meyer. ^
Sergeant William Augstmann.
Corporal Louis Schweigert.
Corporal Charles Roth.
Corporal Christopher Schifferling.
Corporal Adolph Grimm.
Corporal Andreses Koch.
Corporal John Wagner.
Corporal Frank Schaupp.
Corporal John Rosier.
PRIVATES.
Christopher Arnecht, John Howen, Albert Berblinger, George Bruns,
Anton Breier, Anton Bechtolsheimer, Henry Brann, Charles Baier,
John Conrad, Franz H. Centner, Rudolph Dutweiler, Charles Dan,
Rudolph Etter, Leonhaid Eble, Franz Flamin, Jacob Frank, Ernst
Graf, Henry Grenlich, Ulrich Grogg, George Grossman, Ernst Hener,
Daniel Hesse, Jacob Herrmann, Herman Heller, Charles Heller, Fred-
erick Hiltbracht, Benjamin Hoff, Jacob Horlacher, Christian Hesse,
John Konig, Peter Krappe, William Kohlenberg, Samuel King, Franz
John Leisie, George Luber, Christian Musbeck, Janney Muller, John
Muneister, Theodore Ohle, Gottlieb, Pepper, George Pfeifer, Joseph
Pressler, Sigismund Pfeffer, Anton RuUe, John Romhild, Henry Schuh-
mann, Frederich Sanbarschwarl, Joseph Spener, John Schadler, Wil^
liam Schaperhlaus, John Schwanzel, Charles Schoch, Henry Stomberg,
John Spahr, Albrecht Spahr, Frederick Schneider, Nicholas Volker,
John Wellman, Matthias Weibel, Charles Weiland, Jacob Windstrig,
Sidwell Woolery, Joseph Wagner, BonifazYudell, PhilippZinn, Michael
H. Zeigler.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Lieutenant Charles Haltenhof.
First Lieutenant Frederick Fischer.i
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant Frederick Seidel.
Sergeant Henry Premfoerder.
Sergeant George'Hoefer.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Corporal Henry Beckman.
Corporal John Bischhausen.
Corporal Nicholas Joerns.
Corporal Jacob Huleer.
Corporal Henry Fass.
PRIVATES.
John Adams, Henry Arnold, William Borch, Conrad Bezok, Henry
Broeckerhoff, Barney Broeckerhoff, Ignatz Dall, John Dall, Andrew
Dendertein, Sebastian Fe\ix, Goldschmidt, John Herrmann,
Henry Herrman, Michael Huber, Anton Hornung, Michael Hare, Phil-
lipp Joos, Nicolas Krichheiner, Charles Loeffler, John J. Martin, John
J. Martin, 2d, John Adam Miller, Frank Moos, Charles Nieman,
Charles Numberger, Henry Overmeyer, Henry Kojahn, Ulrich Kaidy,
Frederick Rath, Adam Rade, Charles Sureck, Nicolas Schmidt, Udolph
Scheven, Frederick Sturmes, Martin Van Damm, Albert Voelkle, Louis
Walker, John Wild, George Wingerter, Adam Wenzel, Peter Zang.
FORTY-EIGHTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Organized at Camp Dennison, February 17, 1862, the
Forty-eighth was soon dispatched to General W. T. Sher-
man's command at Paducah, whence it was taken up the
Tennessee river to Pittsburgh Landing. It was com-
manded by Colonol W. H. Gibson, now adjutant gen-
eral of the State. April 6th it was heavily engaged all
day, and it is believed that a shot from its lines caused
the death of General Albert Sydney Johnston, command-
er of the rebel army in this battle. On the second day
it was also in action, and suffered severely, losing about
one-third of its men in the two-days' fight. Its subse-
quent battles were at , Corinth, Vicksburgh, Arkansas
Post, Magnolia Hills and Champion Hills, Vicksburgh
again in two assaults under Grant, Jackson, the Bayou
Teche, and Sabine Cross Roads. In the last action, the
remnant of the Forty-eighth was captured, and not ex-
changed until October, 1864, after which it took part in
the capture of Mobile. A majority of the old regiment
had re-enlisted as veterans, but only one hundred and
sixty-five men remained in it at the close of the war.
They were ordered on duty in Texas, and not mustered
out of service until May, 1866.
COMPANY F.
PRIVATES.
Edward Byer, Charles Burger, Samuel Ellis, Benjamin Gibbs, John
J. Kane, Paul Jones, Patrick Keany, Crogin Lowry, Philip McGuire,
Thomas O'Rouke, Rhody Ryan, Wentlen Shiels, William Wright,
Alfred Nichols, Charles McHugh, Joseph Payne.
COMPANY G.
PRIVATES.
John H. B. France, John Maladay.
\
COMPANY H.
PRIVATES.
Frank Kingsley, Robert Wiley, James D. Wolf.
COMPANY I.
PRIVATES.
Edward Byer, Paul Jones, John J. Kean, Charles M. Hugh, Wend-
lin Sherlis.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Samuel G. W. Peterson.
Second Lieutenant Cyrenneus P. Pratt.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Corporal Francis M. Swaney.
PRIVATES.
John W. Bolinger, James E. Bolinger, John Blake, Patrick Casey,
William J. Helms, Thomas E. Hill, Charles L. Hill, Hiram H. Hill,
Nicholas Irelan, Richard Jones, John Kean, Charles Keever, Edward
Kinney, Frank A. Kingsly, Joshua Lee, Joseph M. Glashan, Micha el
Mooney, Jacob O'Dee, James O'Donnell, John Riley, William H. H.
Rilse, Henry C. Stewart, Robert Wiley, James D. Wolf, James Daily,
Joseph Delaney, James Douglas, Joseph Enderly, Philip M. Everhard,
Mark Erway, Peter Farland, Barney Galager, Patrick Conners, James
Carney.
FIFTIETH OHIO INFANTRY.
This regiment was organized at Camp Dennison, and
mustered into service August 27, 1862. It numbered an
aggregate of nine hundred and sixty-four men, gathered
from the State at large.
The Fiftieth was assigned to the Thirty-fourth brigade.
Tenth division, McCook's corps. On the first of Octo-
ber it moved out of Louisville, and on the eighth went
into the battle of Perryville. In this engagement, a loss
was sustained of two officers killed and one mortally
wounded, and one hundred and sixty-two men killed and
wounded.
During the army's advance on Nashville, the regiment
was at Lebanon, then the base of supplies. We afterward
hear of it in pursuit of John Morgan, and still further in
the building of Forts Boyle, Sands, and McAllister. On
Christmas day, 1863, it was ordered to Knoxville, Ten-
nessee. The route lay eastward to Somerset, Kentucky,
and thence southward, crossing the Cumberland river at
Point Isabelle.
On the first day of the year, 1864, movement began
across the mountains. In the severest winter weather,
the men dragged the artillery and wagons over the moun-
tains by hand, slept on the frozen ground, in rain and
snow, without shelter, and subsisted on parched corn.
Soon after arriving at Knoxville, it received orders to
join General Sherman's army at Kingston, Georgia.
From the twenty-sixth of May till after the siege of
Atlanta, the regiment was almost constantly in line of
battle. It shared in all the movements of the campaign,
and participated in the actions at Pumkinvine Creek,
Dallas, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain, Pine Moun-
tain, Kenesaw Mountain, Gulp's Farm, Nicojack Creek,
Chattahoochie River, Howard House, Atlanta, and Jones-
borough. During this campaign, the ranks of the regi-
ment were sadly thinned.
Following the battle of Jonesborough, in pursuit of
Hood's army, the regiment passed through Marietta,
Kingston, Rome, and at last halted for a few days on the
Coosa river, at Cedar Bluffs.
On the thirtieth of November it arrived at Franklin,
Tennessee. It went into the battle that followed with
two hundred and twenty-five men, and came out with one
hundred and twelve. It fell back with the army to Nash-
ville, and in the engagements that occurred there on the
fifteenth and sixteenth of December, lost several more of
its men.
The regiment followed the retreating rebels as far as
Columbia, Tennessee, where it was consolidated with the
Ninety-ninth infantry, the name of the "Fiftieth" being
retained.
We now hear of the newly consolidated regiment in
Clifton, Tennessee, at Fort Fisher, Wilmington, Kings-
ton, Goldsborough, Raleigh, Greensborough, and at last
in Salisbury, North Carolina, where it was mustered
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
123
out on the twenty-sixth of June, 1865. On the seven-
teenth of July, the regiment reached Camp Dennison,
Ohio, where the men were all paid and discharged.
COMPANY A.
Musician Alexander Tittle.
COMPANY B.
PRIVATES.
John Hall, William Herbert, Wesley I. Jeffries, John F. Riley, Wil-
liam Stiles, George W. Garrinkton, John B. McCloud.
COMPANY D.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain John Carr.
First Lieutenant John S. Conahan,
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant John McGovern.
Sergeant John Arnold.
Sergeant Jacob Metzger.
Sergeant Charles C. Lees.
Sergeant Henry Hensel.
Corporal John W. Jearl.
Corporal Henry Benstaker.
Corporal Edward Davis.
Corporal August Reis.
Corporal William Whittaker.
Corporal Richard Prestel.
Corporal Jacob Weist.
Corporal John Wing.
PRIVATES.
John Ardis, Wesley Ackerman, Edward Bradley, Thomas Bradley,
Joseph Boltman, Peter Berlin, John W. Black, William Bendingstock,
Thomas Bannon, James Brennan, Patrick Burns, Joseph B. Bollinger,
Charles Basone, Richard Bernhard, Charles A. Chappelear, George
Coleman, William Cahill, Patrick Duffy, George C. Drake, John Engle-
hard, Christopher Elliott, Patrick Fitzpatrick, Lawrence Finnegan,
Michale Fortune, John Glascon, James Gray (musician), William Gib-
son, Christopher Greate, Thomas Gallagher, John Gallagher, William
Hefferman, Griffith Hemphill, Frederick Hooper, John Holled, John
D. Jewell, Henry Kulper, Hamilton Kennett, Grotlob Keller, Law-
rence King, William Kruger, Jacob Keifer, John Lemon, Louis F.
Lowe, William Lunsford, James Mooney, Alexander McDonald, Hugh
McCleavey, Bernard McGonigle, William Molliter, Hugh McClelland,
John Maher, John V. Mozers, John Morris, John Mahoney, George
Pollock (musician), Eugene Piquet, Crawford W. Rolf, James Red-
mond, William Ludlow, Stephen Saberlie, Michael Scott, Michael A.
Scolly, Hiram Taylor, Joseph Taylor, Henry Tenneymaker, James R.
Vaughn, William F. Whittaker, Michael Welch, John Wilson, William
Young, Charles Stillinger, Henry Sohreiver, James Wilson, William
Gerhart, John Reifer, Richard William, William Worland.
COMPANY F.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Second Lieutenant Robert R. Moore.
PRIVATES.
David K. Anderson, Jesse W. Adams, Corodorn Cook, Israel P. Con-
roy, Simon Footer, Peter Gorman, Robert H. Griffith, Alexander H.
Gody, William Harrison, William Jackson, Charles Johnson, Levi
Jones, Harry Jones, Samuel Jones, Peter Loman, Samuel Muraloch,
Peter Murry, Nathan Parker, George Phers, Girard P. Riley, Alexan-
der H. Reed, Jacob Rennet, Richard Slocum, Henry H. Speigg, An-
drew Steele, Samuel Thompson, John H. Tyson, Phillip Wilson, Bar-
nard White, Henry Wooster, Stephen Yates.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain J. W. Cahill.
Second Lieutenant Anthony Anderson.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Martin V. B. Little.
Sergeant Elias C. Stancliff.
Sergeant Joseph H. Roche.
Sergeant John L. Israel.
Sergeant Charles I. Medbury.
Corporal James Tolks,
Corporal William Green.
Corporal WiUiam R. Lindsey.
Corporal Jacob Honance.
Corporal Francis M. Tazin.
Corporal Henry Helmering.
Corporal Albert Day.
Corporal George Connor.
Musician Jasper H. Moss.
Musician George Grover.
PRIVATES.
William Behymer, Frederick Barnes, William Burhart, Benjamin
Browning, Solomon Behymer, Robert Boyce, David Bupps, John Craw-
ford, David B. Clem, George Clem, John Collins, Runyan Day, George
Debins, Thomas B. Day, John Duncan, W. H. Denny, Solomon Denny,
John Doty, Edwin Evenshire, William EUwell, Henry Frey, Benjamin
Figgins, David Faden, J. W. Fonts, John Green, WiUiam Green, Middle-
ton, Hume, E. L. House, William Hoforth, Phillip Hirgle, John Hirgle
Phillip Haman, Levi Haman, Francis I. Jeffries, Charies Jeffries, Mor-
ris John, Bennet John, George Johnson, Valentine Klump, Phillip
Kaufman, William Kennedy, Charles Kruse, Charies Lillich, William
Lillich, Edwin Lindsey, Haman Lewis, George Mahl, Sylvester Mo-
Lean, John A. Meyers, John McMan, J. W. Porter, Albert R. Pierce,
Elbridge Pierce, John Ryan, William Simon, Noah E. Sutton, Sylvanus
Stroup, Frederick Snalor, Lanier Shaffer, Thomas Tice, Odler T.
Thornun, Joseph J. Vanefessen, E. Winters, Ira W. White, James Wil-
liams, Charies Willett, Williams White, John J, Wahl, James Woa-
dock, Henry Ware, Frederick Whiteman, Charles W. Woaden, John
Fice.
COMPANY H.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Lewis C. Simmons.
First Lieutenant Columbus Cones.
Second Lieutenant Frank A. Crippen.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Charles Moore.
Sergeant Edwin P. Edgely.
Sergeant Andrew Vincent.
Sergeant Edwin Yocum.
Sergeant John Chigman.
Corporal Lemuel Wiley.
Corporal Bartlett Vincent.
Corporal John N. Turner.
Corporal Thomas Puttam.
Corporal Joshua C. Clark.
Corporal John Hailed.
Corporal Tyler H. Vincent.
Corporal Alfred Loyd.
Musician George Saurs.
Musician Charles Baser.
Teamster Henry Macy.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Atkinson, Andrew Arendolph, Joseph Bruce, James Bellen-
stein, Isaac S. Bailey, Henry La Barbier, Barney Battle, Jacob Buck-
man, Richard Bernard, Josiah Bell, Samuel Blitz, Robert Crandall,
Levi T. Collins, William Carter, Maurice Clanter, Alexander Cum-
mins, Andrew Crawford, .Alexander Campbell, Thomas Derrick, Patrick
Daly, George H. Dobbins, Columbus Dale, Christopher Elliott, Charles
E. Eaton, John F. Ferris, Lawrence Finnigan, Charles J. Fox, Wil-
liam Green, Israel Gates, Michael Gilmore, George G. Garire, George
Hartman, Francis C. Hills, John Hughes, John Hale, William Hunter,
Nicholas Haffer, William Homer, Henry Jordan, George A. Johns,
William Kelly, William Kinger, Jacob King, Christopher King, John
Lovemark, James A. Murrain, Manville M. McDonald, Charies C.
Murphy, Fabius C. Motlin, Nathaniel B. Meader, Theodore Morris.
Arthur Mellen, John Morris, John B. Morgan, John Newmeyer, Louis
Napoleon, Frank Nohn, Conrad Nortman, Michael O'Brien, Edward
H. C. Phillips, Paul Russell, John T. Reily, William Reynolds, Joseph
Robertson, Henry Schreiver, Edward Stanton, William Smith, Leonard
Smith. Ebin Terwilliger. Henry Take, John C. Thayer. John Walker,
George Wilier, WiUiam Wiley, Nathaniel Wilson, Adolph Webber,
Martin Webber, Jacob Yast, Conrad Yugar.
COMPANY I.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Isaac J. Carter.
First Lieutenant Frederick Buck.
124
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Second Lieutenant Joseph R. Key.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Jerome Crowley.
Sergeant William H. Reed.
Sergeant George N. White.
Sergeant Benjamin E. Styles.
Sergeant Robert Cory.
Corporal Jacob Steigleman.
Corporal William Fangs.
Corporal William W. Warner.
Corporal George H. Reese.
Corporal John Stillwell.
Corporal Lewis Grooms.
Corporal William McCanly.
Corporal Mathew Moreney.
PRIVATES.
Simeon Arthur, Isaac W. Adams, John A. Arthur, Andrew S. Bow-
ling, Henry Benn, Frederick Blum, Orville H. Coal, Edward Corlett,
Allen Cochran, Andrew Corruth, John Charles, Thomas Carroll, John
T. Creighton, Eli Dusenbery, Servetus Dawson, William Davis, John
Dennis, John Eubank, Charles Fallbush, Joseph W. Free, John J.
Farroll, William Franklin, James O. Griffin, Daniel S. Gates, William
Green, Christopher Hutt, Perry Holland, James Johnson, Thomas
Johnson, Hiram H. Koon, Henry Killing, George W. Lilly, Frank B.
Lamb, Zachary T. Lane, Daniel M. F. Lamb, Peter Lyon, George
Lockwood, Thomas Lawson, Edward Murry, Thomas Magivin,
Phillip Miller, David McKinney, Michael McDermot, Martin V. B.
Niese, Charles B, Preston, John Quick, John Rockenfield, Lewis
Rownd, Paul Roussell, William Slagle, Archibald B. Stewart, Jeffrey
Sullivan, Thomas E. Shy, Josiah C. Searl, John Tompkins, John
Turner, Benjamin Taylor, James Thompson, Hiram Taylor, Thomas
Toohey, Peter Tiermon, James E. Thomas, John H. Van Hage, Wil-
liam B, Witt, John B. Woodruff, John Williams, John W. Wilson,
Robert Willoughby, David Williams, William Wood, James White,
Asa M. Weston, James Wasmer.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Leonard A. Hendrich.
First Lieutenant Oliver S. McCIure.
Second Lieutenant Edward S. Price.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Charles A. Van Dennon.
Sergeant David Morris.
Sergeant Henry Merrell.
Sergeant William H. Childs.
Sergeant James Kelso.
Corporal Thomas S. Sheake.
Corporal James Brown.
Corporal William A. Baker.
Corporal William L. Cottor.
Corporal Joseph Chamberlain.
Corporal Samuel Reddish.
Corporal Samuel Losey.
Corporal John Linsey.
JeremiahAmmerman, Peter Alberts, Charles Adams, William Asbold,
Simeon Arthur, John Arthur, Vincent Brieslaw, William Bates, Milton
Blizzard, Stephen Blizzard, Christman Birman, John Bryant, John Ben-
net, Joseph Carson, John Criver, Charles B. Crane, David H. Cowen,
Jackson Culp, Bernard Cline, William Dean, George W. Dean, Thomas
Dodge, David M. Deams, Thomas Easterling, John Fox, Frank Fo.x,
Charles Goodwin, Henry Heath, John F. Heberlein, Christopher W.
Hamel, Henry C. Hall, John Hahn, James Johnson, John Juliu, Joseph
Keedler, Jacob Klineman, Albert Kigan, James Lacey, Henry Libe-
rook, Robert Nanifold, Alexander McCready, Richard Marsh, David
Noble, John Orton, Owen Osborne, Andrew Ponder, John Ponder,
Peter Peckeny, Carleton Pans, James Pricket, Coleman Quinn, Lain
Ready, John F. Reynolds, Luman W. Smith, Joseph Spencer^ Thomas
Shrim, John G. Spahr, Peter Steffers, Thomas E. Shy, Peter Shilling,
Joseph Stagmier, William Sparks, Gavett Van Kant, James H. Van
Kant, Stephen K. Van Ausdel, Asa M. Weston, John Willy, Jackson
Walters, David Weisenberger, James Weils, George W. Williams,
Erastus Winters, James Primmill.
FIFTY-SECOND OHIO INFANTRY.
This was raised with some difficulty in the spring and
summer of 1862. A banner was presented to it by citi-
zens of Cincinnati. It moved to Lexington August 25th,
and was in the retreat to Louisville after the disastrous
battle near Richmond, Kentucky. During the retreat it
suffered greatly from heat and thirst. It took part in the
battle of Perryville, doing its work like veterans. It was
in the advance on Nashville, and did useful service, al-
though not heavily engaged, in the battle of Stone River.
In garrison at Nashville, Murfreesborough, and other
points, it obtained high reputation for discipline and drill.
It was in the opening skirmish of the battle of Chicka-
mauga, and in the action the next day. Its subsequent
history includes the relief of Knoxville, the Atlanta cam-
paign, and the marches through Georgia and the Caroli-
nas. After the great review it was mustered out at Wash-
ington, Junes, 1865.
COMPANY c.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Major Samuel Coplinger.
PRIVATES,
Henry Buraw, Andrew Colter, John Cuseick, Charles Common
(musician), John Graham, Christy Kerne, John Styner.
COMPANY H.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Rudolph Gassier.
Sergeant Isaac L. Mills.
Sergeant Samuel Harper.
Sergeant George K. Farrington.
Sergeant James C. Milire.
Corporal John Miller.
Corporal John W. Steed.
Corporal John W. Coleman.
Corporal Edgar Flinn.
Corporal Jacob Warner.
Corporal John W. Bowen.
Corporal William Nome.
Corporal William J. Campbell.
PRIVATES.
William J . Armstrong, Joseph Blundell, Daniel Byrne, John Bow-
hat, David C. Clark, Thomas Coen, George Cartman, Charles Cor-
nell, William Cox, John Cummings, WiUiam H. Delerty, John Dennie,
John J. Farrell, Richard T. Tunnerean, Osarll Godson, Patrick Ham-
ilton, Richard Harmes, Samuel Hardy, John Henry, George B. Hodg-
son, Thomas W. Mayhew, John Martin, Jacob Mowry, Robert Mellen,
Aaron B. Mills, Henry Midtendorf, Patrick Murphy, Barney Mucker,
Robert M. Mullen, Daniel Owens, Thomas Payne, Henry Prinzel,
Emos Reisch, Oliver Rice, William Riley, John A. Sellins, John S.
Stokes, Isaac Stokes, Adam Story, William Struble, Edward T.
Snyder, Digory Shall, John J. Truxall, Jacob Warner, Henry Chilley,
Ernst Brady.
COMPANY 1.
PRIVATES.
Philip Boss, Theodore Bartel, William Green, Mathias Haffle,
Michael Harbesmehl, John Keans, Adolph Newiger, Herman Pily,
Theodore .Schneles, Phillip Schaaffer, Henry Webber.
C0MP.A.Ny K.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Horace A. Church.
Sergeant William L. Moxall.
Sergeant John Stammeijohn.
Musician Charles Firman.
PRIVATES.
Thomas Duke, Henry Eldridge, Francis Falters, George Kuevey,
John Kunser, James Lineback, Frederick Rodgiver.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OIHO.
I2S
FIFTY-THIRD OHIO INFANTRY.
The organization of this regiment was completed in
January, 1862. In February it joined the Third brigade
of General W. T. Sherman's division. Its services in-
cluded the battles of Pittsburgh Landing, Mission Ridge,
Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Nicojack Creek,
Atlanta, Ezra Chapel, Jonesborough, and Ft. McAllister;
the pursuit of Hood in the rear of Sherman, and the
marches to Savannah and the north. Upon appearing
before Columbia, South Carolina, it silenced a battery by
its skilful and rapid fire, and assisted in the destruction
wrought in that city, as also at Fayetteville, four days
afterwards. Reaching Washington and pas.sing -in the
grand review, it was taken to Arkansas, where it stayed
until August II, 1865, when it was mustered out. It
had been engaged in sixty-seven battles and skirmishes,
and lost sixty killed, two hundred and sixty-four wounded,
and fourteen missing.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Second Lieutenant William Shay.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS,
Sergeant Joshua Bailey.
Sergeant John Logan.
Corporal Gelusia Howard.
Corporal Jefferson Moor.
PRIVATES.
John Bergert, Peter Conklin, Charles Cook, John Cawdy, James Da-
vis, Patrick Downey, George Elder, John Fisher, Henry Gravel, John
H. Garrison, Joseph Gerrich, Henry Holmes, Michael Hesselbruch,
Charles Howes, William Howes, William Justus, Thomas Lowery,
William Jordan, Louis Lerig, James Lyner, George Lindsay, John
Loyd, Thomas Murry, Michael Maloy, Martin Mungivan, George
Mozer, Peter Millingman, Peter McConnel, Adam Masser, John Schu-
lemyer, Barney Smith, Louis Schurtis, John Loring, Charles Masher,
Richard J. Voka, Louis Weber, Joseph Whitmore.
FIFTY-FOURTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Nine counties, of which Hamilton county was one,
furnished the companies for this command. Recruiting
for it was begun in the late summer of 1861, and it was
organized and drilled during the next fall and winter, at
Camp Dennison. February 17, 1862, it took the field
with eight hundred and fifty men, and was assigned at
Paducah to the brigade commanded by General W. T.
Sherman. In March it was taken up the Tennessee, and
was in both days' fighting at Pittsburgh Landing, losing
one hundred and ninety-eight, all told. April 29th it
moved upon Corinth, and was in the attack upon the
works May 31st, being among the first troops to enter
the town. Its commander was put in charge of the post,
it was appointed to provost duty there, and its regimental
colors were hoisted on the public buildings. It was en-
gaged during the summer in several brief expeditions,
was in the attack at Chickasaw Bayou on the 28th and
29th, losing twenty men, and at the capture of Arkansas
Post shortly after. It participated in the siege of Vicks-
burgh, the battles of Champion Hills, and Big Black
Bridge, the movements about Jackson, the subsequent
operations of the Fifteenth army corps, to which it was
attached, including the battle of Mission Ridge, the re-
lief of Knoxville, and the Atlanta campaign. January
2 2d it was mustered as a veteran organization, and at
once started home on furlough, returning with two hun-
dred recruits. In the Atlanta movement it was engaged
at Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Moun-
tain, Nickojack Creek, Decatur, Ezra Chapel, and'Jones-
borough. It participated in the pursuit of Hood, the
marches to the sea, and northward to Richmond and
Washington, and the grand reviews. It was also in the
charge on Fort McAllister, the heavy skirmishing near
Columbia, and the last battle of Sherman's army at Ben-
tonville. North Carolina. June 2d it was transported
to Louisville, and thence to Little Rock, where it did
garrison duty until the middle of August, when it was
mustered out. During its arduous service it marched
three thousand six hundred and eighty-two miles, took
part in four sieges, nine severe skirmishes, and fifteen
pitched battles; and lost in all — killed, wounded, and
missing — five hundred and six men. It had but twenty-
four officers and two hundred and thirty-one men left on
the day of muster-out.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Sergeant Major Miles W. Elliott.
COMPANY E.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
First Lieutenant Timothy J. Sullivan.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Richard J. Burrill.
Sergeant Francis J. Murphy.
Sergeant Edgar H. Earnhart.
Sergeant James Parke.
Corporal Jacob Kitto.
Corporal Joseph Kerr.
Corporal Charles H. Nicol.
Corporal John Barry,
Corporal Fdward H, Moon,
Musician Thomas Mullen.
Musician John Bonta,
Teamster John Strassell,
PRIVATES,
Charles Albrecht, Lafayette Burton, Richard Burke, Matthias Baker,
Jeremiah Brown, John Brady, George C, Crusoe, Michael Clifford,
Thomas Callapy, Charles Desmond, Joseph Fiesens, Henry Frederic,
Frederick Gyer, John Gardner, Samuel Hill, John Hemmingway,
Charles Hobbs, Francis Herrick, Joseph Hubert, Michael Hammenn,
James Jardine, John S, Kelley, Hugh Kennedy, John Kehoe, Valen-
tine Kennett, August Kines, John C, Lockwood, August Marchmeyer,
Martin McNamara, Edward McGinn, John McWain, Michael Ma-
tague, Frank Overmeyer, Adam Ott, Caspine H, Riggs, John Rear-
don, John D, Rehling, John Rodgers, Philip Schmitt, Balser Schmitt,
John Sullivan, John Trimben, Henry Whetsell, Louis Wishonpt, Fred-
erick Wildermann,
COMPANY F.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
First Sergeant Edward B. Moore.
Corporal Joseph Fletcher.
Corporal Thomas Gardner,
Musician George H. Stanley.
Teamster Abram Clegg.
PRIVATES,.
John Burns, William Brinkmeyer, Henry Buhrman, John Booth, .'\1-
vin Dibble, Columbus Dale, John Donohue, Andrew Donley, Martin
Ford, Godfred Gass, Henry Graves, James Hilt, John G, Hauck, An-
drew Jackson, George Know, John Knapp, John Kilcliberger, Joseph
H, Marar, Felix McCann, David Nealy, Michael Stephens, James Sher-
low, Robert Sherer, John Tomson, Christian Wilmer, Hugh Williams,
Augustus Yager.
COMPANY G.
PRIVATES.
Michael Burns, James Burke, William Devine, Bernard McEvoy,
John Quigly, Robert Simpson, William C. White.
126
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
COMPANY I.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Corporal Robert Simpson.
PKTVATES.
Alvis Chamberlain, Michael Burns.
COMPANY K.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant Joseph Hickley.
Corporal John Zimmerman.
Musician Stephen Cann.
PRIVATES.
Francis Sanders, William Myers, Joseph Kreble, Frank Burges,
Stephen Buyr, George Brennan, Jacob Diehl, Patrick Debolt, Robert
Fiegel, James Hammer, John Hiser, Jeremiah Miller, John Kessler,
John Beckley, Michael Maharty, Jolm Ohler, Jacob Summer, Peter
Giele, Eben Little, Francis Wood, William Smith, Edwin Smith, Con-
rad Nie, Jacob Magg, Adam Fuffner.
FIFTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY.
This was organized at Portsmouth in the fall of 1861,
and suffered much from measles there during the early
winter. It first saw the enemy in February, at Fort
Donelson, and was on the field, but not engaged, at
Pittsburgh Landing. Its subsequent campaigns were
about Memphis, in Arkansas, at Vicksburgh with Grant,
and in the Teche and Red River campaigns under
Banks. At the battle of Sabine Cross Roads it lost forty
killed, wounded, and missing. The veteran regiment
was kept on duty in New^Orleans until March, 1866,
when it was mustered out.
Captain Levi M. Willett's company, organized in the fall of 1864,
by General Order A. G. C. :
PRIVATES.
Antone Coyman, Joseph Cook, Ganett Caldwell, James A. Devin,
Perinnius Coans, John Frick, George W. Farrell, John Golsby, Aaron
Guncle, Thomas Greyer, William Hahan, Patrick Hennessy, John G.
Hammond, Bernard Jeckel, Robert H. King, Philemon B. McFadden,
Jasper Mulford, Joseph Pholwine, John Reinke, Frederick Shrader,
James Sands, William Stevens, John C. Peiman, William Woods, Wil-
liam Wesley, Charles Walker, Robert Wilson, John Williams, Matthew
Hemenis, John Atkinson, John Bates, Hiram C. Cochran, Michael
Flanao-an, Albert Hoffman, William Henderson, George Leonard,
William Madden, William Owens, James Walker, Albert Watson,
James Ferris, Thomas Spence, William Smith, William Smith, 2d.
FIFTY-SEVENTH OHIO INFANTRY.
One company, and part of another, were from Hamil-
ton county. The regiment rendezvoused at Camp Vance,
Findlay, but moved January 22, 1862, to Camp Chase.
It was raised between SejJtember i6th and February
loth, when it was mustered in, and started for the field
February i8th. It reported at Paducah, and was as-
signed to the Third brigade. Fifth division, army of the
Tennessee. It was very heavily engaged at Pittsburgh
Landing, losing in three days one hundred and eighty-
seven killed, wounded, and captured. In November it
joined the First brigade, First division, Fifteenth army
corps. It shared the glories of its corps at Chickasaw
Bayou, Snyder's Bluff, Raymond, Champion Hills, Black
River, Vicksburgh, Jackson, Mission Ridge, and the re-
lief of Knoxville; and then endured a terribly severe
march, "hatless and shoeless, and half naked," to Belle-
fonte, Alabama. Notwithstanding all this, the regiment
re-enlisted as veterans on the following New Year's, being
the first in the Fifteenth corjjs to do so. It took the al-
lowed thirty days furlough, and returned in ample time,
with twenty recruits, to join in the Atlanta campaign.
It was hotly engaged at Resaca, holding its ground
against three successive charges of an overwhelming
force, and losing fifty-seven killed and wounded. It was
also in the actions at Dallas, New Hope Church, Kene-
saw (where it also lost just fifty-seven men), that on the
left of Atlanta, sometimes called the battle of Decatur,
where it lost ninety-two in a desperate struggle to hold
its position, which was three times captured by the enemy,
but finally held by the Fifty-seventh; at Ezra Church, on
the extreme right of the line before Atlanta, where it lost
sixty-seven, the enemy leaving four hundred and fifty-
eight dead in front of its line, and at Jonesborough. It
took part in the chase after Hood, in which it struck the
rebels at Snake Creek gap, and Taylor's ridge; in the
march to Savannah; the assault on Fort McAllister; in
the march to Columbia, where it assisted in the destruc-
tion of the railroad buildings; in the marching and skir-
mishing through North Carolina to Raleigh; thence the
walk-over to Wathington city, and the reviews there, after
which it was ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas, but was
mustered out soon after arriving there, August 6, 1865,
and was paid and discharged at Camp Chase, August
25th. It had been moved by rail, steam, and on foot
over twenty-eight thousand miles; and of one thou-
sand five hundred and ninety-four men borne on its mus-
ter rolls, but four hundred and eighty-one are believed to
have been alive at its muster-out.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Charles A. Junghauns.
First Lieutenant Abner J. Sennett.
Second Lieutenant lohn Stonemets.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Robert W. Smith.
Sergeant Jacob Michael.
Sergeant William A. Armstrong.
Sergeant Patrick Barry.
Sergeant Andrew Diffenbacher.
Corporal John Richter.
Corporal Christian Weaver.
Corporal Cornelius Sheehan.
Corporal Christian Boost.
Corporal Edward Hiperlo.
Corporal John D. Spenbuk.
Corporal Frederic Rauschart.
Musician Samuel Hayden.
Wagoner Ira Green.
PRIVATES.
Henry Altnine, John Y. Armstrong, Gerhard Beker, Jacob Benedi.x,
Franz Blank, Charles Butler, James Callahan, Alexander Camblen,
Patrick Clark, John J. Collopy, Thomas Collopy, William Davis,
George Dolch, Henry Dreyer, John Dunn, Henry Filers, Christian Ek-
arett, Michael Evans, Nicholas Felix, Martin J. Genoe, Andreas Cra-
dle, John Hofermos, William Hunter, Austin Joyce, Henry KHnk,
John Lang, Lewis Liever, Edward McCormick, John Mahoney, John
Martin, Charles Meltzer, James Moloney, Paul Mauber, John Windorff,
Lorenzo Peterson, Charles Riemer, George Reitt, Phillip Rirch, Franz
Scherer, Dietrich Schuette, Ernst Schwarze, George S. Seeley, Henry
Sickman, Henry .Snider, John Strube, John Sullivan, John D. Tholen,
Edward J. Tobin, Barney Twilling, James Walsh, Frederick Mearhert,
Peter Weber, Lewis Weis, Joseph Witsch.
FIFTY-EIGHTH OHIO INFANTRY. -
PRIVATES.
George Henderson, Michael Nash.
-COMPANY A.
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
127
COMPANY C.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Sergeant Herman Retthorn.
PRIVATES.
Jacob Arnold, Joseph Buerstinger, John Engler, Peter Grossman,
Mich. Flanek, John George Fust, Edward Kronenburg, John Reinhardt,
Wilhelm Rellhorn, John Schleisch, John Schneller, Jacob Waldmann. .
FIFTY-NINTH OHIO INFANTRY.— COMPANY D.
Private William M. Applegate.
SIXTIETH OHIO INFANTRY.
The one year regiment of this number was specially
intended to defend the border counties of Ohio, and for
three months, in the late winter of 1861-62, and the
spring of 1862, it guarded military stores at Gallipolis.
In April it joined General Fremont's army in western
Virginia, and had its first engagement at Strasburgh. It
was soon after engaged at Port Republic, and then at
Cross Keys, and shared in the disaster at Harper's Ferry
in September. It was discharged October 10, 1862.
The three-years' regiment was organized in the early
spring of 1864. It was ordered to the field when six
companies were ready, joined General Burnside's corps
at Alexandria in April, and was afterwards filled up, but
never to the maximum. It was in the actions of the
Wilderness, at Mary's Bridge, Spottsylvania, and the sub-
sequent battles of Grant's final campaign. It was mus-
tered out July 25, 1865, having, in less than one year's
active service, lost five hundred and five men, but seven-
teen of whom were missing.
(One Years' Service.)
STAFF OFFICERS.
Quartermaster E. J. Blount.
(Three Years' Service.)
Quartermaster Sergeant James Everett.
Hospital Steward Robert W. Pounds.
COMPANY I.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.
Corporal John Stafford.
PRIVATES.
John Branham, James Reynolds, Joseph T. Harris, James H. Har-
per, David PoUonjar, Philetus Simon.
COMPANY K.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Captain Phorion R. Way.
Second Lieutenant Willis W. Cox.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Reuben Sampsel.
Sergeant William B. Yates.
Sergeant Samuel W. Jones.
Sergeant Frank Miller.
Sergeant Francis Bowman.
Corporal William Gillespie.
Corporal John Hayden.
Corporal Seth Sharp.
Corporal Andrew Cunningham.
Corporal James Buchanan.
Corporal Henry Hafel.
Corporal Otto Keck.
Corporal Richard Omara.
PRIVATES.
George Anderson, Henry Allen, William Bently, Charles Boyle,
Henry Butts, Richard Butts, Charles Brown, William Brown, James
Burke, Albert Bowers, Charles H. Bomer, William Brown, George W.
Brayton, William H. Brally, Hiram Barnes, John Cave, Willis W.
Cox, Samuel Chapman, Joseph Cook, John Conley, David C. Cus-
tard, James M- Collins, Edward B. Demoss, Thomas Daun, James F.
Donahoe, Calvin Deneen, Henry Day, John Ellis, Charles Fowler, Wil-
liam Flinn, Georje Fox, John Farley, Robert Giffin, James Grodson,
Jesse Huffman, Martin Haley, Patrick H. Haley, James F. Hall, Wil-
liam Holerah, John Hughes, John Hite, Frederick Hahnes, Joseph
Heartkoam, John Jackson, Columbus Jefferson, Horace B. Jones,
Dennis Kelley, Cohn Koous, William King, William Larry, Thomas
Lamon, William Lutterman, Charles E. Lewis, George Lough, Daniel
Madden, George Morgan, Thomas Maloney, Frank H. Miller, George
T. Mering, Robert Mallon, George Mitchell, John McCraff, Wesley
McCoy, Thomas McCoy, Charles Parker, Robert Peterson, John
Quigley, John Regley, Charles D. Reed, Solomon Richards, Frederick
W. Schapmar, Thomas Smith, John Spalding, Edward H. Tappen-
den, Samuel Tomlinson, Ferdinand Upperman, Isidor Wohlangant,
John Williams, Henry Williams, William Walls, Theodore Wilson,
John Willis, Richard Whitcomb, James D. Whaley, Franklin West-
cott, Thomas Woods, Jerome B. Welsh, William Wilson, Ely Wil-
liams, Joseph Baker, George Brown, Cyrus Phillips, Stephen Tilberry,
OrloffD. Ramsey.
SIXTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
This regiment contained recruits from nearly every
county of Ohio. It left Camp Chase for western Vir-
ginia May 17, 1862, joining General Fremont's army
June 23d, at Strasburgh. It reached Cedar Mountain
just too late for the battle there, but had its first fight
shortly after, at Freeman's Ford, with a part of Long-
street's corps, with which it had another battle in August,
at Sulphur Springs. The next day it had a brisk skir-
mish at Waterloo Bridge, and took part in the second
Bull Run battle, losing twenty-five killed and wounded.
September 2d, it was engaged at Chantilly, and there, for
some weeks, formed a part of the reserve protecting
Washington. The next May it was heavily engaged at
Chancellorsville, and opened the battle at Gettysburgh,
July ist, suffering severely in the action. In September it
was removed with its corps to Chattanooga; was engaged
at Wanhatchie and Mission Ridge; marched to the relief
of Knoxville; wintered at Bridgeport, Tennessee; re-en-
listed in March and took its veteran furlough, reaching
the front again in time to participate fully in the dangers
and glories of the Atlanta campaign. In the battle of
Resaca it saved the Fifth Indiana battery, from which
the support had retired. It was further engaged at Dal-
las, Gulp's Farm, and Peach Tree Creek, in the latter of
which were wounded five officers and over seventy men,
and eighteen or twenty were killed. After the capture
of A.tlanta it remained encamped there until November
• 15th, when it started on the grand movement to the sea-
board. During this march it exchanged shots with the
enemy but once — at Sandersonville, Georgia. In Savan-
nah, the Sixty-first served temporarily in a provisional
brigade, for special duty in the city. About the middle
of January, 1865, it moved up the Savannah river to
Sister's Ferry, and soon rejoined its own command. In
the march through the Carolinas, it was only engaged at
Bentonville, the last battle of the campaign, and lost sev-
eral men in the action. Reaching Goldsborough, it was
consolidated with the Eighty-second Ohio infantry, the
latter giving its name to the new organization. The con-
solidated regiment joined in the march northward to
Washington, and in the famous review, soon after which
it was sent home and mustered out. Mr. Ried says of
the Sixty-first: "It was always a reliable regiment, and
was ever found where duty called it. Its losses by the
128
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
casualties of the field were so numerous that, at the close
of its service, a little band of only about sixty officers
and men remained to answer to its last roll-call"
COMPANY A.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Sergeant Anthony Grodyicki.
Sergeant John Troxell.
Sergeant John Elbert.
Sergeant Isaac Stokes.
Corporal Jasper M. Holniann.
Corporal Frederick Blumenthal.
Corporal Charles Kyser.
Musician Joseph Divine.
Musician Antone Kern.
PRIVATES.
Henry Bonn, John Blessing, Frederick Bremer, Timothy Buckley,
Patrick Casey, Patrick Conner, Patrick Duffy, John Dunn, Matthew
Demuth, George W. Foultz, Asa Flagg, Franz Gechrend, Frederick
Gross, Thomas Heinrich, John Hacker, Frederick Herrencomt, Peter
Heman, Charles McArty, John McLevie, Thomas F. Moore, Michael
McCormick, Josiah Meyer, Jacob Michael, Charles Wiemann, Nicholas
Pfister, Gustavus Rosenberg, Richard Schuh, Harry Stegemann, Henry
Schneppering, John Simpson, John F. White, Samuel Zeboldt.
COMPANY B.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Corporal Thomas McGrath.
PRIVATES.
Joseph Allison, Patrick Brogan, Thomas Connors, James Donelly,
James Delany, James Doolan, George Hood, Mathevv Johnson,
Michael Kain, William Lydon, John Lavin, Michael Madden, John
Mulligan, Daniel McNamara, Dennis McDonald, George McWilliams,
Henry Reese, William Riley, Joseph Storey.
COMPANY F.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant Peter Duffy.
Sergeant Richard Ryan.
Corporal Richard Hughes.
Corporal William Kerwin.
PRIVATES.
George Bodine, Henry Brooksmith, John Colbert, James Cunning-
ham, Dennis Doyle, Edward Delany, Maladis Dugan, Hartley Dona-
hue, John Dempsey, Thomas Dunn, Michael Dwyer, Thomas Daly,
Daniel Fitzgerald, John Fulton, Francis Gardner, Thomas Gray,
Thomas Gilleran, Peter Heevey, Patrick Horn, Michael Hifferan,
Thomas Holmes, Barnard Kelley, Thomas King, William Lynch,
Bernard McCarry, John McAndrew, Patrick McDonald, John Mc-
Millan, Patrick MoUoy, John Mangan, Richard McCahey, Patrick
O'Hearn, Patrick Ryan, John Ryan, Thomas Scott, Stephen Welsch.
COMPANY G.
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
First Lieutenant Philip Jacob Theis.
Second Lieutenant William Meyer.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeant J ohann M. Beck.
Sergeant Emanuel Bien.
Corporal Francis Henzel.
Corporal Adam Bohner.
Corporal Christian Schneeberger.
Corporal Valentine Klein.
PRIVATES.
Michael Arnold, John Bates, Hermann Bates, John Bates, jr., Con-
rad Buchler, John G. Burge, Henry Bissinger, John Bramer, Michael
Doherty, Christian Graber, Joseph Gerber, August Gaudalf, Michael
Hehe, Jacob Hanhauser, Francis Harvey, Edward Kenedy, 
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